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Hope this is the right forum for this! This is definitely deeper fellowship with the LORD:
I do a lot of reading. Don't worry, I spend a lot of time in the Bible too. But I love reading the old preachers: the ancient preachers, I call them; especially from the Great Awakenings back in the 1700s and 1800s. So I compiled a list of my top 10.
The reason I love these guys (and trust some day I will meet them all in the Kingdom of God), is because they preached an uncompromising Gospel. So much of the preaching today is watered down, or just plain false doctrine. These guys pretty much stick to the basic tenets of faith (I don't agree 100% with some of them also), and they go deep, which is something lacking in so many churches today.
This is roughly the order of my favorites (and yes, I realize they were MEN, and it's the Word of God they preached that is what draws me.)
1) Jonathan Edwards 1703-1758 was born in East Windsor, Connecticut, and was converted as a child, the only son with ten sisters of a Congregational Church pastor. He graduated from Yale College with highest honors, and studied divinity there. In 1726, Edwards accepted the call from the Congregational Church in Northampton, Massachusetts, where his grandfather pastored. There he married the daughter of a minister and founder of Yale College. The Lord blessed his labors with revival in 1734-35 and 1740-42. These included many conversions and a change in the town. Through unusual events later, Edwards’ own congregation voted him out of the pastorate. He then became a missionary to the Native Americans. He became the president of Princeton College, but died only five weeks later. Through his writings, Edwards is recognized as the most capable Reformed theologian in American history.
2) Horatius Bonar 1808-1889
Scottish Presbyterian, brother of Andrew Bonar. After university, he pastored in village churches before serving many years at the main Presbyterian church in Edinburgh, which became known for its solid Bible teaching and revival. He was a great winner of souls, preacher, hymn writer, and writer, gifted in putting great truths into understandable language.“Unlike many writers of the Evangelical school, Dr. Bonar is not content with baling out milk for babes, but gives us real thought and teaching…We say to all our friends, read and be refreshed.”—Charles Spurgeon
3) George Whitefield 1714-1770
Born in Gloucester, England; the best-known evangelist of the 18th century and one of the greatest itinerant preachers in the history of the churches of Jesus Christ. Whitefield worked together with John and Charles Wesley in establishing the “Holy Club” during his studies at Oxford University. By God’s grace, Whitefield experienced a genuine conversion and came to see that his “holiness” was only filthy rags. He realized that he needed to rest by faith in the finished work of Christ and began to fervently preach the necessity of regeneration.Whitefield was an ordained minister of the Church of England. When opposition to his preaching closed church doors to him, he led the way in preaching outdoors and in traveling wherever he could to air the message of salvation. He shared this work with the Wesleys. He was mightily used of God in England and the American Colonies during the “Great Awakening,” and ceaselessly preached the sovereign grace of God, the necessity of the new birth through faith alone in the Person and work of Jesus Christ
John Charles Ryle (1816-1900) began his service to the Lord as a minister of the Gospel. He labored in parish churches within the Church of England for almost forty years. He then became Bishop of Liverpool in 1880 and came to international prominence as preacher, Bible expositor, and author. Today he is best known for his plain and lively writings on practical and spiritual themes. He deliberately used this style to reach ordinary people. The great aim of his ministry was to encourage strong and serious Christian living.
4) Charles Henry Mackintosh 1820-1896, who preached extensively in the revival movement. The initials 'C.H.M.' became familiar in many pious evangelical households of the later Victorian and Edwardian years. No critical scholar, Mackintosh nevertheless had a marked gift for simple Biblical exposition, and his works on the Pentateuch had an enormous vogue as simple aids to devotional interpretation for the first five books of the Bible.
Dwight Lyman Moody 1837-1899, also known as D. L. Moody, was an American evangelist and publisher connected with Keswickianism, who founded the Moody Church, Northfield School and Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts, Moody Bible Institute, and Moody Publishers
William Penn 1644-1718 was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonial era.
George Fox 1624-1691 was founder of the Quakers, so called because they trembled before God. In opposition to the obvious coldness and corruption of the church of his day, Fox chose to be guided by the inward light of Christ (fed by continual immersion in the Bible) and rejected the trappings of formal religion and undue respect to men, whatever their elevation. For this he suffered many imprisonments.
Finally, I can't leave out, Samuel Ward 1577-1640, Puritan Preacher. I especially love his sermon, "A Coal from the Altar to Kindle Holy Fire of Zeal, 1615,"
But a lot of his works are still in olde English, if you can read it. (I do)
This is from, "Balme from Gilead TO Recouer Conscience. In a Sermon Preached at Pauls-Crosse, Octob. 20. 1616."
The time is now come vpon vs, wherein men affect and desire good Names, Estates, Wiues, Houses, good Cloathes, good euery thing; but content themselues with meane and vile Consciences, which ought to be the chiefe and onely good: Wherein men loue to exercise and shew, in Preaching, in Hearing, in Trading, and all manner of conuersing, their Memorie, their skill and cunning, and al other their good parts, as they ]call them, neglecting this which is the WHOLE of a Man; and despising Pauls Exercise, and Pauls Policie,
To haue a good Conscience before God and Man: Wherein men loue preaching indeede and knowledge, but not wholsome doctrine; Preaching to the Conscience and knowledge of themselues, which makes this Pulpit and Church-yard full of Polemicall and Schoole-diuinitie; while the plaine, practicall, and asketicall part lyeth vntilled and vnregarded: which maketh Citie and Country full of Craft and Cunning, but voyd and destitute, not onely of the power but shew of Conscience. All which maketh me to chuse rather with the Apostle to speake fiue words to the Heart,
then tenne thousand to the Eare; yea, one to shew you a good Conscience, then ten thousand to shew all the Science in the
world. Sermon you heare vpon Sermon, till this Manna [...]comes out at your nostrils: but as o [...]e said of Lawes; one is yet wanting for the practising of all the rest. Now Conscience is the spring of Practise, and the Wheele that must set all the rest on going: Is it not high time to speake to Conscience, that wee be no longer hearers onely, but dooers also?
I do a lot of reading. Don't worry, I spend a lot of time in the Bible too. But I love reading the old preachers: the ancient preachers, I call them; especially from the Great Awakenings back in the 1700s and 1800s. So I compiled a list of my top 10.
The reason I love these guys (and trust some day I will meet them all in the Kingdom of God), is because they preached an uncompromising Gospel. So much of the preaching today is watered down, or just plain false doctrine. These guys pretty much stick to the basic tenets of faith (I don't agree 100% with some of them also), and they go deep, which is something lacking in so many churches today.
This is roughly the order of my favorites (and yes, I realize they were MEN, and it's the Word of God they preached that is what draws me.)
1) Jonathan Edwards 1703-1758 was born in East Windsor, Connecticut, and was converted as a child, the only son with ten sisters of a Congregational Church pastor. He graduated from Yale College with highest honors, and studied divinity there. In 1726, Edwards accepted the call from the Congregational Church in Northampton, Massachusetts, where his grandfather pastored. There he married the daughter of a minister and founder of Yale College. The Lord blessed his labors with revival in 1734-35 and 1740-42. These included many conversions and a change in the town. Through unusual events later, Edwards’ own congregation voted him out of the pastorate. He then became a missionary to the Native Americans. He became the president of Princeton College, but died only five weeks later. Through his writings, Edwards is recognized as the most capable Reformed theologian in American history.
2) Horatius Bonar 1808-1889
Scottish Presbyterian, brother of Andrew Bonar. After university, he pastored in village churches before serving many years at the main Presbyterian church in Edinburgh, which became known for its solid Bible teaching and revival. He was a great winner of souls, preacher, hymn writer, and writer, gifted in putting great truths into understandable language.“Unlike many writers of the Evangelical school, Dr. Bonar is not content with baling out milk for babes, but gives us real thought and teaching…We say to all our friends, read and be refreshed.”—Charles Spurgeon
Arthur W. Pink 1886-1952
English independent Baptist. Pink studied briefly at Moody Bible Institute, pastored churches in the USA and Australia, and returned to England in 1934. His last 12 years were in Lewis, Scotland, writing the Studies in the Scriptures, his monthly expository digest, issued from 1922 to 1953. His focus was on the great themes of grace, justification, and sanctification. Arthur W. Pink was born in Nottingham, England, in 1886, and born again by God’s Spirit in 1908. He studied for only six weeks at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, U.S.A., before beginning pastoral work in Colorado. He later pastored churches in California, Kentucky, and South Carolina before moving on to preach and teach in Sydney, Australia. In 1934, he returned to his native England, moving to the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, in 1940, where he remained until his death in 1952.3) George Whitefield 1714-1770
Born in Gloucester, England; the best-known evangelist of the 18th century and one of the greatest itinerant preachers in the history of the churches of Jesus Christ. Whitefield worked together with John and Charles Wesley in establishing the “Holy Club” during his studies at Oxford University. By God’s grace, Whitefield experienced a genuine conversion and came to see that his “holiness” was only filthy rags. He realized that he needed to rest by faith in the finished work of Christ and began to fervently preach the necessity of regeneration.Whitefield was an ordained minister of the Church of England. When opposition to his preaching closed church doors to him, he led the way in preaching outdoors and in traveling wherever he could to air the message of salvation. He shared this work with the Wesleys. He was mightily used of God in England and the American Colonies during the “Great Awakening,” and ceaselessly preached the sovereign grace of God, the necessity of the new birth through faith alone in the Person and work of Jesus Christ
John Charles Ryle (1816-1900) began his service to the Lord as a minister of the Gospel. He labored in parish churches within the Church of England for almost forty years. He then became Bishop of Liverpool in 1880 and came to international prominence as preacher, Bible expositor, and author. Today he is best known for his plain and lively writings on practical and spiritual themes. He deliberately used this style to reach ordinary people. The great aim of his ministry was to encourage strong and serious Christian living.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1834-1892
English Baptist. Without formal education, Spurgeon was called to preach in London at 19. The church later became the Metropolitan Tabernacle, where he ministered to 6,000 people on Sundays and came to be much beloved. The 20-25 million printed words of his sermons stand as the most by a single author in Christian history.4) Charles Henry Mackintosh 1820-1896, who preached extensively in the revival movement. The initials 'C.H.M.' became familiar in many pious evangelical households of the later Victorian and Edwardian years. No critical scholar, Mackintosh nevertheless had a marked gift for simple Biblical exposition, and his works on the Pentateuch had an enormous vogue as simple aids to devotional interpretation for the first five books of the Bible.
Dwight Lyman Moody 1837-1899, also known as D. L. Moody, was an American evangelist and publisher connected with Keswickianism, who founded the Moody Church, Northfield School and Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts, Moody Bible Institute, and Moody Publishers
William Penn 1644-1718 was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonial era.
George Fox 1624-1691 was founder of the Quakers, so called because they trembled before God. In opposition to the obvious coldness and corruption of the church of his day, Fox chose to be guided by the inward light of Christ (fed by continual immersion in the Bible) and rejected the trappings of formal religion and undue respect to men, whatever their elevation. For this he suffered many imprisonments.
Finally, I can't leave out, Samuel Ward 1577-1640, Puritan Preacher. I especially love his sermon, "A Coal from the Altar to Kindle Holy Fire of Zeal, 1615,"
But a lot of his works are still in olde English, if you can read it. (I do)
This is from, "Balme from Gilead TO Recouer Conscience. In a Sermon Preached at Pauls-Crosse, Octob. 20. 1616."
The time is now come vpon vs, wherein men affect and desire good Names, Estates, Wiues, Houses, good Cloathes, good euery thing; but content themselues with meane and vile Consciences, which ought to be the chiefe and onely good: Wherein men loue to exercise and shew, in Preaching, in Hearing, in Trading, and all manner of conuersing, their Memorie, their skill and cunning, and al other their good parts, as they ]call them, neglecting this which is the WHOLE of a Man; and despising Pauls Exercise, and Pauls Policie,
To haue a good Conscience before God and Man: Wherein men loue preaching indeede and knowledge, but not wholsome doctrine; Preaching to the Conscience and knowledge of themselues, which makes this Pulpit and Church-yard full of Polemicall and Schoole-diuinitie; while the plaine, practicall, and asketicall part lyeth vntilled and vnregarded: which maketh Citie and Country full of Craft and Cunning, but voyd and destitute, not onely of the power but shew of Conscience. All which maketh me to chuse rather with the Apostle to speake fiue words to the Heart,
then tenne thousand to the Eare; yea, one to shew you a good Conscience, then ten thousand to shew all the Science in the
world. Sermon you heare vpon Sermon, till this Manna [...]comes out at your nostrils: but as o [...]e said of Lawes; one is yet wanting for the practising of all the rest. Now Conscience is the spring of Practise, and the Wheele that must set all the rest on going: Is it not high time to speake to Conscience, that wee be no longer hearers onely, but dooers also?
