EDITED BY PETER SIPPEL
SECTION TWO: THE 18TH CENTURY.
All files on this site copyright (c) 2000-2002 by Peter Sippel.
Deborah Bell's Sermon Upon the Lord's Prayer. Time and place of delivery unknown; a shorter sermon than most but still good.
Samuel Bownas' First Sermon. Bownas was one of the most prominent of the second generation of Friends, and is best known for A Description of the Qualifications Necessary to A Gospel Minister, presently available in a badly hacked up and "modernized" version. This is his reconstruction of his first words in the ministry, delivered about one month after his initial conversion.
The Powers That Be Are Ordained of God. Addressed to the Pennsylvania Assembly as they were deliberating military concerns, exhorting faithfulness to the vision and charter of William Penn.
I Will Bow The Inhabitants of The Earth. 18th Century apocalyptic preaching, foreseeing a day of judgment and calamity coming upon the land, in particular to the nominal professors.
Work While It Is Day. Specifically addressed to people who had come to the Meeting late and interrupted the silence.
A Cleansing of The Heart. A second hand summary of Cuffee's description of a vision he had, delivered to the young men at the Arch Street Meetinghouse in Philadelphia.
Dwelling in Unity. Dillwyn, along with David Sands (below) was one of William Savery's companions in the long travels throughout Europe. This was delivered shortly before his departure.
A Garden Enclosed is My Sister, My Spouse. Taken from the Song of Songs, using the common method of interpreting it as a metaphor of Christ and his church, directed primarily at the young and wavering. Italics in this case mark direct or indirect quotes, not points of emphasis.
Be Not Deceived! From the passage in Galatians, "Be not deceived, God is not mocked." etc. A warning and exhortation, cataloging different deceptions.
Godliness is Profitable All Things. A discourse on the subject of holiness, delivered at an evening meeting at Gracechurch Street in 1773.
The Rich Man. Beginning with the rich young man who approached Jesus, moving onto the parable of the rich man and Lazarus and the contrast between that and the good Samaritan. Lechtworth appears to have been a mostly local minister in the Meeting in the Park, Southwark; his approach tends to be more exegetical than most ministers I have seen.
This Is Not Thy Rest! Dealing with the transient nature of human life and exhorting his readers to seriously consider the search for the "city that has foundations."
They That Wait Upon The Lord. Dealing with the need for silent waiting and renewal, based on the famous passage in Isaiah "though the youth may faint, and the young men utterly fall, yet those, who wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength; they shall mount upwards with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint."
Do Justly, and to Love Mercy, and to Walk Humbly with Thy God After a startling introduction, in which he observes that he can see little effect of his ministry, moves on to this passage, and deals in particular with doing justice in daily life and relationships.
The Complaint Which Was Taken up Formerly Phillips was a reform minded minister. This message is basically an exhortation to increased faithfulness. Her theology and concerns were common ones at the time; her method considerably less tactful and more blunt. Parental guidance suggested. (Note: a word in one of the recurring scriptural references could register as a false positive in some filtering programs. Should this happen please write to the editor who will try to get the situation manually corrected.)
This Is the Work of Faith. Largely an evangelistic exhortation directed to those who make a profession of faith but do not know the experience, with a side trip into the peace testimony.
My Earnest Desire Was to Find this Rock: an Autobiographical Sermon. Sands was another of the companions of William Savery and George Dillwyn (above;) he stayed on after the others had left (Jesse Kersey met him in England in 1805) and became a noted opponent of the growing liberal sentiment in Ireland. This invitational sermon was delivered at a public meeting, and its largely personal, autobiographical and testimonial nature appears to be quite unusual in Quaker homiletics.
Have You Known Him So? An early message, delivered mostly to other Friends, dealing with the need for personal knowledge of the Savior.
That Wisdom That Cometh Down From Heaven. Another early message from the same month, discussing true wisdom.
The Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace. The first of his recorded English sermons, taken from Ephesians.
The Glorious Liberty There Is In The Truth. This followed the previous message in the same Meeting, as an effort to clarify a point.
An Age of Uncommon Events. A lesser known sermon, unfortunately. He begins with the impressive scientific discoveries of his age, then invites the listeners to "one science worth them all:" the study of the human heart illuminated by the Light of Christ.
The Everlasting Gospel. The best known and most frequently reprinted of the messages Savery gave, this was addressed to a public meeting and takes its text from Revelation. This is not the same sermon from Revelation that Elizabeth Fry refers to in her Journal.
My Religion Teaches Me This. The first farewell sermon, as he was leaving England for the Continent and travels in Germany, France, and Holland.
Let Met Entreat You. An invitational sermon addressed mostly to the youth. This meeting was supposed to have been so crowded that people who were already convinced of Quakerism were asked to leave to make room for the seekers. It is almost certain that Betsy Gurney (better known as Elizabeth Fry) was present for this message and it helped confirm her in the path she had started to take as a result of Savery's ministry.
Let Us Continue In That Word. Meant to be his farewell message to England. An exhortation to remain faithful.
Appendix to the Savery Collection: A Letter To His Wife, Regarding the Printing of his Testimonies. I thought it fair to include Savery's own response to the discovery that his messages had been taken down and printed. He found it to cause much distress of mind and tried to suppress it. Fortunately for us he was unsuccessful.
On the Necessity of a Timely Preparation for Death. Largely exhortation, taken from the episode in 2 Kings where Isaiah warns Hezekiah to put his house in order, delivered 1737. Note the reference near the end to the presence of "gay attire" in the meeting.
This Is He, the Lord, Who Standeth at the Door and Knocks. Story was another of the most prominent of the second generation Friends. This text, from an obscure periodical, The United Friend, appears to have been significantly edited for length (Story not being noted for brevity) with the asterisks probably indicating where deletions were made.
Words of Reproof For Busybodies. An abstract, taken from his own Journal; readily the strongest and most fiery message on the subject the editor has ever heard or read.
Behold The Lamb of God/the Supper of The Lord. A lengthy message dealing with three different themes: first, the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world; secondly, the supper of the Lord, concluding with an exhortation to those who are seeking the Lord.
The Universal Offer of Salvation. A long theological message dealing with Quaker christology and soteriology. This text has the nearly unique distinction of having been read and corrected by the speaker, and approved for publication.
When There Was Silence in Heaven. Special West was a small farmer from near Hertford, and according to the introduction "his capacity in the common affairs of life, was rather below than above that which generally belongs to men of his class." He had almost no education but studied the Bible and the readings of Friends on his own. Despite his limitations he was evidently a very useful vessel and was given eloquence in speaking by the Holy Spirit.