“The common threads in all of these contemporary appraisals of Dabney’s preaching were his pulpit intensity, his lack of polished oratory, and his didacticism. And an examination of the extant sermons demonstrates that these appraisals were fair and accurate. These sermons indicate that the majority of Dabney’s preaching generally shifted back and forth between passionate and direct evangelistic appeals to unrepentant sinners to come to Christ, and doctrinal sermons on points related to soteriology” (Sean Michael Lucas, Robert Lewis Dabney, 51).