THE GOSPEL PREACHER: A BOOK OF TWENTY SERMONS. BY

[Pages:510]THE

GOSPEL PREACHER:

A BOOK OF

TWENTY SERMONS.

BY

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, EDITOR OF THE AM. CHRIS. REVIEW;

AUTHOR OF SINCERITY SEEKING THE WAY TO HEAVEN;

TRACTS FOR THE PEOPLE; AND PUBLISHER OF THE F. & M. DEBATE, ETC., ETC.

FOURTH EDITION.

CINCINNATI: FRANKLIN & RICE, PUBLISHERS,

1869.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by FRANKLIN & RICE,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern

District of Ohio.

STEREOTYPED AT THE FRANKLIN TYPE FOUNDRY, CINCINNATI.

PRINTED BY THE ELM STREET PRINTING CO. 178 ELM ST., CINCINNATI.

CONTENTS.

SERMON I.

PAGE

EVIDENCES OF THE DIVINE AUTHORITY OF THE BIBLE.

11

SERMON II.

WHAT MUST MEN BELIEVE TO BE SAVED?

35

SERMON III.

HOW ARE PERSONS MADE BELIEVERS?

57

SERMON IV.

DIFFERENT THINGS TO WHICH SALVATION IS ASCRIBED IN THE

NEW TESTAMENT.

81

SERMON V.

MEN MUST DO SOMETHING TO BE SAVED.

103

SERMON VI.

CONVERSION, OR TURNING TO GOD.

129

SERMON VII.

THE ADAPTATION OF THE BIBLE TO MAN.

153

SERMON VIII.

THE SIMPLICITY OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST.

179

SERMON IX.

THE TWO COVENANTS.

205

SERMON X.

THE INAUGURATION OF THE NEW INSTITUTION.

229

SERMON XI.

PREDESTINATION AND THE FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 255

SERMON XII.

THE NECESSITY OF REGENERATION.

281

SERMON XIII.

UNION OF CHRISTIANS.

305

SERMON XIV.

NEW TESTAMENT EXAMPLE OF CONVERSION.

331

SERMON XV.

THE COURSE TO PURSUE TO BE INFALLIBLY SAFE.

355

SERMON XVI.

THE LOVE OF GOD TO MAN.

383

SERMON XVII.

THE CHURCH--ITS PURITY.

409

SERMON XVIII.

THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE

WORLD.

433

SERMON XIX.

THE THREE STATES OF MAN--THE FLESHLY, THE INTERMEDIATE

AND THE ETERNAL.

457

SERMON XX.

THE PUNISHMENT AFTER DEATH OF THOSE WHO DIE IN THEIR

SINS.

479

INTRODUCTION.

THE author of the following discourses cheerfully conforms to the usual custom, in furnishing a few words by way of introduction to his new volume of sermons. When a new book makes its appearance, the inquiry is at once started, What demand has called forth another book? or, What is the object in offering another book to the world? It is due, both to the writer and the public, that a few words of explanation, in reply to the above and some other questions, should appear here.

1. By means of the periodicals, and other publications, issued from the hand of the author of the following discourses, which have been extensively circulated in this country, and to some extent in other countries, he has become well known to many thousands as a writer and publisher with whom he has no personal acquaintance. Many of those his ardent friends he can never see and address in person. From these the request has frequently been made, during the past few years, that such a series of discourses as the following should be published. To meet the wishes of these, in this respect, has been one reason for the appearance of this volume.

2. Again: there are many thousands, in all quarters of this country, and beyond the limits of our own country, who have recognized the name of the writer as a preacher of the Gospel of much success for many years past. It is now true that he has been actively engaged in the ministry of the Word more than thirty years, without the

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intermission of a single week, except in a few instances when compelled by sickness to lay by for a short time, and that more than eight thousand persons have been turned to the Lord by his own personal appeals. Many persons who have been made acquainted with these facts, but never seen him nor heard his voice, desire to see a few of the discourses, as a specimen, which have been effective in the achievement of this work. This volume is intended, to some extent, to meet this demand.

3. Numerous persons who have heard the voice of the author of these discourses, and participated with him in the meetings held by him in his extended labors in half the States of the Union, desire to have a. few of the sermons they have heard, that they may read and preserve them. They want them because they have heard and will recognize and identify them, and thus call up anew the thrilling surroundings and interesting scenes on the happy occasions of their delivery, in the presence of vast audiences. They want them that their children may read them, and recognize in them specimens of the preaching that achieved the great reformatory movement of the nineteenth century, and produced such a revolution in the public mind in this great and rising country. It is an item in the intention of the writer to meet this demand.

4. Many friends have made the suggestion that immense good can be achieved by placing these discourses in the hands of serious persons, that they may consider them candidly and composedly, without the excitement of public occasions. We have no doubt that much good will, in this way, result from them. They want them to send to their friends who reside whore they have no preaching from those devoted exclusively to the Gospel of Christ, that they may understand the ground we, as a religious body, occupy. The volume is aimed to subserve these ends.

THE CLAIMS OF THESE DISCOURSES.

The author of these discourses is entirely an extemporaneous speaker, never in his life having memorized a single discourse, either of his own

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