Five Sermons

Whipple, Henry Benjamin, 1822-1901Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 104K words
Chapters: 11

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Five Sermons by Henry Benjamin WhippleAuthor: Whipple, Henry Benjamin, 1822-1901,Language: English, Class: BX: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Christianity: Churches, Church movements, Release Date: Aug 1, 2005

Editor's review

Five Sermons collects five sermon texts by Henry Benjamin Whipple and belongs to nineteenth-century Christian preaching literature. Its reading value lies first in style: sermons tend to combine doctrinal exposition, moral exhortation, and concrete circumstances into a rhythmic mode of argument addressed to a listening audience. Readers can observe how the preacher selects scriptural passages, organizes arguments, and handles themes such as sin and responsibility, comfort and warning, while also sensing the connection between religious speech and public concern of the time. Because these are sermons rather than systematic theological treatises, the book is better read as supplementary material for religious history, sermon literature, or the intellectual context of the nineteenth century. It is not advisable to read it as a doctrinal manual for point-by-point comparison; instead, note each sermon's audience awareness and rhetorical strategy. If unfamiliar with the Christian tradition, begin with the basic scriptural background, then appreciate the exhortative structure, which will better reveal the text's historical warmth and expressive craft.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Christian sermon literature and religious rhetoric
Students of nineteenth-century religious thought and the context of public speech
Readers seeking sermon samples for writing or reference in the history of preaching
General readers open to religious themes and willing to engage with the expressive modes of historical texts

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking systematic theology textbooks or contemporary devotional guides
Readers with no interest in religious topics who want only secular literature
Readers seeking strong plot-driven narratives or light entertainment

Reading tips

Read one sermon at a time: first look at the cited scripture, then trace the preacher's progression of argument and main exhortations.
Mark recurring thematic words and rhetorical devices while reading, and compare differences among the five sermons.
Read alongside nineteenth-century religious history, avoiding direct judgment by contemporary preaching styles.
If using for writing reference, excerpt its approaches to openings, transitions, and conclusions.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a work of systematic theology?

No. It is a preaching text consisting of five sermons, focused on exposition and exhortation addressed to listeners rather than systematic theological argument. Read it as sermon literature and historical context material, not as a doctrinal manual.

Can readers unfamiliar with the Christian tradition read it?

Yes, but some background preparation is needed. It is advisable to first understand the basic meaning of the scripture cited in each sermon, then focus on how the preacher organizes arguments and comforts or warns the audience. Even without agreeing with its religious stance, one can read it as rhetorical and historical text.

Is there a continuous thread among the five sermons?

The material only states that the book consists of five sermons and provides no unified thematic thread linking them. A safer approach is to treat them as five independent sermons by the same author, grasping each one's scripture, theme, and exhortative focus separately, then making an overall comparison.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Whipple, Henry Benjamin, 1822-1901 Author · American · 1822–1901

Henry Benjamin Whipple (1822–1901) was the first Episcopal bishop of Minnesota in the United States. Beyond his missionary work, he devoted himself to the rights of the Dakota Indians, campaigning for justice for Native peoples throughout his life. One work by him is held in this collection: Five Sermons, a volume of sermons that shows his writing to be chiefly pastoral exhortation and moral appeal, plain in language and addressed to his congregation. Public information on the details of his life and the full range of his writings is limited, so little more can be said here. What is available indicates that his words echoed his social concerns and retains some value as source material for the history of the Episcopal Church and the situation of Native Americans in the nineteenth century.