He never risked a failure by attempting to shake a sermon or a speech "out of his sleeve." His memory was one of his greatest gifts.
Sometimes when his soul was on fire, and his voice trembled with emotion, he rose into the region of lofty impassioned eloquence.

His master effort on the platform was his address of welcome to the members of the "Evangelical Alliance" in 1873.

How the foreign delegates--Doctors Stoughton, Christlieb, Dorner and the rest of them--did open their eyes that evening to the fact that a Yankee-born parson was, in elegant culture and polished oratory, a match for them all.

Dr.Adams' speech "struck twelve" for the Alliance at the start; nothing during the whole subsequent sessions surpassed that opening address, although Beecher and Dr.Joseph Parker were both among the speakers.

He closed the meeting of the Alliance in the Academy of Music with a prayer of wonderful fervor, pathos and beauty.
One of his grandest speeches was delivered before the Free Church General Assembly in Edinburgh--in May, 1871.