Gerhard’s Sacred Meditations

by Johann Gerhard

Publisher:

Lutheran Publication Society

, 1896

Overview

Born in 1582, by his mid-thirties Johann Gerhard was regarded as Germany’s greatest living Protestant theologian. He established the tradition of Lutheran scholasticism and wrote some of the period’s most popular and influential devotional literature. He wrote these Sacred Meditations when he was only 22. In his introduction, Charles Albert remarks that Sacred Meditations, “. . . gained and maintained a deep and lasting hold upon the Church, as so expressing the loftiest devotion, with spiritual insight so just, that all, even those old in the faith, might be guided and uplifted by the meditations of so young a disciple of Christ.” This devotional book contains 51 meditations from the prominent Luther theologian.

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Key Features

• 51 devotions from Luther orthodoxy’s greatest theologian
• Early seventeenth-century devotional literature

Contents

Top Highlights

“Sin is the greatest evil, because it draws us away from the highest Good; the nearer we approach God, the farther we get away from sin; the nearer we come to sin, the farther do we withdraw from God. How salutary then is true repentance, which releases us from sin and leads us back to God. Sin is so exceeding sinful, because of the greatness of God, whom we offend by our sin; and so great is He, that the heavens and the earth cannot contain Him.” (Page 24)

“But faith is not a mere opinion or empty profession; it is a living and efficacious apprehension of Christ as He is set forth in the gospel. It is a most hearty conviction of God’s grace to us, a confident tranquillity of heart, and an undisturbed peace of conscience relying upon the merit of Christ.” (Page 68)

“From the cross He cries: ‘Behold, O sinful man, what I am suffering for thee; to thee I cry, because for thee I am dying. Behold the punishment inflicted upon Me! Behold the nails which pierce Me; there is no grief like unto My grief, and yet though My outward sufferings are so great, far greater is the agony of My heart, because I am finding thee so ungrateful.’ Have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us, O Thou only God of mercy, and turn our stony hearts to Thee!” (Pages 19–20)

“But no material thing can possibly satisfy the longings of the soul, which is far more excellent than any material object, for all these have been created for the use and benefit of the soul. How utterly material things fail to meet and satisfy the needs of the soul, appears in death, when we must give them all up.” (Pages 89–90)

Product Details

• Title: Gerhard’s Sacred Meditations
• Author: Johann Gerhard
• Translator: C. W. Heisler
• Publisher: Lutheran Publication Society
• Publication Date: 1896
• Pages: 307

About Johann Gerhard

Johann Gerhard (October 17, 1582 – August 10, 1637) was a Lutheran church leader and Lutheran Scholastic theologian during the period of Orthodoxy.