Excerpt from Sermons on Important Subjects
The following were some of the considerations that influenced me to undertake the publication of the sermons composing this volume.
I. Garbled extracts of some of them had been given to the public by note-takers and reviewers, which had entirely misrepresented their doctrine; I therefore thought it important that the public should be disabused on these points, for two reasons.
1st. Those that had confidence in me, and in my views, might adopt the misrepresentations of note-takers and reviewers as truth, supposing them to be my real sentiments.
2d. Many individuals might be shut out from ever coming at the truth, upon these points, by prejudices growing out of those misrepresentations.
II. I thought the truths themselves, contained in these sermons, of sufficient importance to warrant the publication of some sermons on these points; especially as I have never seen most of them, or heard them discussed, in a manner that was satisfactory to my own mind.
III. In preaching as an evangelist, I have found it especially important to discuss these and other topics, and have almost every where found many misapprehensions and misunderstandings existing in the minds of the multitude on most of these points.
Charles Finney (1792 - 1875)
Known as one of the leaders in the Second Great Awakening revival in America. He was a revivalist who called for deep introspection of sin and preaching of the law to bring about sin. He was known to preach 30+ nights on sin and than the last night on Christ to have people flee to Him for mercy. Used greatly in the book: "Revivals of Religion" which is a classic on the subject of revival.He preached on the true Baptism of the Holy Spirit and its necessity. In his revivalistic campaigns he was used of the Lord to bring some estimate over 50,000 souls to the Lord which many were sound converts. There has been questions raised surrounding his theology in the later years of his ministry but this does not discredit that God used him powerfully in revival and for God's kingdom.
Charles Finney was born in Connecticut to an ordinary family and life that gave little hint of the great things God had in store for him. He was a schoolteacher and then a lawyer before his conversion at age 29. Finney was filled with the Holy Spirit on the same day he was saved and immediately began witnessing to friends and family members. More than twenty people were saved in the 24 hours following Finney's conversion. Finney's personal evangelism soon became public evangelism as he began to travel and preach in extended revival meetings. He considered revival to be a natural result of following the instructions God had laid out in His Word.
During Finney's fifty years of preaching, more than 500,000 were saved. He wrote many books, the most enduring of which are The Autobiography of Charles Finney and Lectures on Revival of Religion. After ill health forced him to stop traveling in meetings, he accepted the pastorate of a church in New York City. From 1852 until 1866 he served as president of Oberlin College in Ohio. Although some of his theology was lacking, he was a powerful, Spirit-filled soul winner who brought revival to cities and towns across the eastern United States.
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