Master Sermons Of The Nineteenth Century

JVLaster oermons of the . Nineteenth Lentury Editea by Graius Crlenn Atkins WILLETT, CLARK COMPANY CHICAGO NEW YORK 1940 Copy right 1940 by WILLETT CLARK COMPANY Manufactured in The U. S. A. by The Plimpton Press Norwood, Mass.-La Porte, Ind. Uontents Intro auction vii JLnomas Olialmers THE EXPULSIVE POWER OF A NEW AFFECTION 4 vV illiam Edlery Cnanmng 9 SPIRITUAL FREEDOM 22 Jonn Henry . Ne rinan 43 THE INVISIBLE WORLD 46 James Bowling Mtozley 59 THE REVERSAL OF HUMAN JUDGMENT 60 Henry Vard Beecner l THE GENTLENESS OF GOD 84 Frederick V illiam Robertson 103 THE THREE CROSSES ON CALVARY 106 James . MLartineau n THE WITNESS OF GOD WITH OUR SPIRIT 120 Horace Busnnell 1 3 1 THE POWER OF AN ENDLESS LIFE 134 V Simpson 1 55 THE VICTORY OF FAITH 158 vi CONTENTS Jokn Caird CORPORATE IMMORTALITY 174 Pkillips BrooL 189 THE PILLAR IN GODS TEMPLE 193 Charles Haaaon Spurgeon EVERYBODYS SERMON 207 Lyman Moody GOOD NEWS 230 Introduction THIS VOLUME was named by the publishers long before it even began to be put together. The publishers thought the time ripe for an anthology of representative sermons by the out standing preachers of the nineteenth century. The century has been long enough over for pretty definite agreements to have been reached about its greater preachers. Time has done for them its quiet and inexorable work of critical examina tion and appraisal. The stars of the first magnitude in the British and American pulpits for the last century seem now named and fixed, and can be studied without the refraction of undue partisanship or prejudice. Naturally, in editing an anthology of master sermons the choice of the master preachers is determinative. If one should begin with the sermonsthemselves he would, I think, end by spending his life in the proper alcoves of the libraries of theological seminaries, trying, with an impossible mass of material, to reach conclusions for which there are really no fi nal objective tests. With the preachers themselves as controls the task becomes manageable, though ones choices and con clusions would still be open to challenge. No two students of preaching, familiar with the homiletic material of the century under examination, would agree unanimously in the choice, say, of a dozen preachers to be in cluded. They would probably agree in the majority of their choices and their disagreements would be over exclusions rather than inclusions. The names herein included would, I trust, command the authoritative suffrage of the homiletic classrooms. The only protest would be Why are other viii INTRODUCTION preachers of equal distinction left out By what principle do you thus discriminate among those whose lips have been touched by fire from the altar Unavoidable limitations of space is the first answer. As judicious an effort as this editor is capable of to get a repre sentative balance of style, subject matter, nationality and, to a limited extent, of the preaching of the various Protestant communions, is the second answer. The fallibility of the ed itors judgment is the final and covering answer. The choices are entirely from the English-speaking Protestant pulpits. I had not the judgment nor the knowledge to trust myself in any other fields though I have studied the great French preachers of earlier periods . So much for the choice of preachers among them they entirely cover the century. The choice of sermons was more demanding and is lesslikely to secure the unqualified commendation of professional sermon-tasters. There the personal equation is unescapable. In part, I have been guided by the consensus of critical opin ion. Chalmers sermon on The Expulsive Power of a New Affection has always been recognized as one of the great ser mons of the century. Mozleys The Reversal of Human Judgment has received the same universal approval. On the other hand, Bushnell is best known for Everymans Life a Plan of God and Brooks for The Candle of the Lord...