Sermons to the Spiritual Man
Overview
Shedd’s Sermons to the Spiritual Man complements his Sermons to the Natural Man. Whereas his previous collection of sermons emphasized sin and suffering, this volume preaches forgiveness and victory over sin. Sermons to the Spiritual Man contains twenty-six sermons on the glory of God, faith, holiness, sanctification, prayer, evangelism, and numerous other topics.
Top Highlights
“This generation seeketh after a sign.’ It is not surprising, consequently, that the natural man, finding no response to his passionate and baffled attempts to penetrate the invisible and eternal by the method of the five senses, falls into unbelief, and concludes in his heart that a deity who never shows himself has no real being.” (Page 2)
“God’s inward assurance of mercy and acceptance. He has been in a horror of great mental darkness, and into that black void of his soul God has suddenly made a precious promise, or a comforting truth of his word, to shine out clear, distinct, and glittering, like a star shooting up into a midnight sky.” (Pages 2–3)
“It is one of the many injuries which sin does to man, that it degrades him. It excludes him from the uplifting vision of the Creator, and causes him to expend his mental force upon inferior objects—upon money, houses, lands, titles, and ‘the bubble reputation.’” (Page 5)
“In the first place, humility is becoming to man, because he is a creature” (Page 260)
“elevating mental act, because of the immensity of the Object” (Page 4)
- Title: Sermons to the Spiritual Man
- Author: William G.T. Shedd
- Publisher: Charles Scribner & Co.
- Publication Date: 1884
- Pages: 421
William Shedd (1820–1894) is considered one of the greatest theologians of the American Presbyterian church. He studied at the University of Vermont under James Marsh, where he encountered the writings of Samuel Taylor. Shedd graduated from Andover Theological Seminary in 1843 and, soon after, became a minister for a congregational church in Vermont for two years.
Shedd taught at many universities, including University of Vermont, Auburn Theological Seminary, Andover Theological Seminary, and Union Theological Seminary. While at Union, Shedd defended the Reformed theology of Old School Presbyterian against the increasing influence of modernism and higher criticism.
One of Shedd’s better-known titles is Dogmatic Theology. Other titles include A History of Christian Doctrine and The Doctrine of Endless Punishment, which can be found in the William G. T. Shedd Collection.