Category: Sermons

Son of man, I have made thee a watchman; therefore hear the word of my mouth and give them warning from me. Hebrew Prophet. The pulpit sustains so many relations to literature that when a great writer dies it cannot pass the event unnoticed. The preacher is not a literary man, but he is deeply […]

The memory of the just is blessed.—Hebrew Proverb. The human mind can apprehend and enjoy an abstract principle, but its greatest admiration is reserved for a principle when it assumes a concrete form. We all love to see force in action. One may learn something of the power of the sun from a book of […]

“Behold God is great, and we know him not; touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out.”—Jon, The death of Herbert Spencer, whose fame as a writer upon science and philosophy and their relation to life and religion is world-wide, is, in itself, sufficient to arrest the attentions of all thoughtful persons. For making his […]

The foolish man built his house upon the sand; and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house; and it fell; and great was the fall of it.—Jesus. All readers of philosophy are familiar with the long debate between Fate and Freedom. It is as old as […]

“What is that thee? Follow thou me. “—New Testament. “Space is ample, east and west, But two cannot go abreast.” —Emerson. These quotations, supplemented by common experience, ask us to reflect upon the fact that, for every human being, a separate path is appointed. If this is one of Nature’s decrees, it follows that each […]

When they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem they took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him. -New Testament. The fact that we have again reached that portion of time, by many thousands of our fellow mortals called “Holy Week,” is sufficient, of itself, to claim our attention. Whatever else may […]

The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.—Paul. In this sentence, from the writings of Paul, lies the idea that a strict adherence to the mere form of a thing is fatal to its beauty and its usefulness. Everything should be interpreted by its larger meaning. Its literal significance is narrow, partial, and temporary; its […]

Train up a child in the way he should go. Out of the heart are the issues of life. Hebrew Proverbs. In all its many and varied forms, so much has been written concerning education that it would seem as if the subject were wholly exhausted. Taking literature as a guide, we cannot go beyond […]

I meditate on all thy works. Hebrew Poet. The domain of the senses is almost infinitely small in comparison with the vast regions accessible to thought alone which lie beyond them. -Tyndall. O God! I think thy thoughts after Thee. -Kepler. There is nothing more marks the dignity and glory of mankind than the power […]

While I was musing the fire burned; my heart was hot within me. Hebrew Poet. There was a time when a large part of the pulpit’s task consisted in instruction. That time has gone by, because the necessity for that kind of ministration no longer exists. The schoolhouse, the public libraries, the magazines, and newspapers […]