• John Kershaw Sermons

    Cave Adullam

    The Substance of a Sermon preached at Zoar Chapel, London, in April 1842 "And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him, and he became a captain over them.” (1 Samuel 22:2) These words contain something more than a literal meaning of the circumstances which are mentioned. And the order in which they have been laid upon my mind is as follows: I. In many respects, David was an eminent type of the Lord Jesus Christ. II. The men that went down to the Cave of Adullam, and the circumstances in which they were placed, were typical of all who really go unto Christ for salvation. I. The psalmist, the…

  • John Kershaw Sermons

    Christ’s Sheep, And Their Marks

    Notes of a Sermon preached on 11 April 1843 “I give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish.”—John 10:28 The Holy Ghost, in the canon of Scripture, has borrowed a variety of metaphors from natural things to show us what Christ is to his people, and what his people are to him. Here he calls them "sheep," and himself the "Shepherd." Jesus has received his sheep from his Father's hand as his portion, as the lot of his inheritance. He knows his sheep intimately and perfectly. When they are wandering on the mountains of the Adam fall, the shepherd has his eye upon them, and he seeks them out, and calls them to the rest of his flock, in his own time.…

  • John Kershaw Sermons

    The Justification of a Sinner before God

    Two sermons preached at Gower Street Chapel, London on 14 and 21 November 1841 [On Sunday, 14 November 1841, Pastor Kershaw spoke on the subject of justification. His text was Job 25:4. Although he intended to cover his three headings in a single sermon, he took up only the first heading on Sunday 14 November, then completed the final two headings on Sunday 21 November. The two sermons are combined in the manuscript that follows.] "How then can man be justified with God?”—Job 25:4 The doctrine of justification is clearly and strikingly revealed in the sacred oracles of truth, and is by God the Holy Ghost made manifest in the souls of all the election of grace. Hence, Paul speaks of it as one of…

  • John Kershaw Sermons

    Introduction

    John Kershaw (1792-1870) was pastor for fifty-two years of Hope Chapel, Rochdale. He exercised a powerful ministry among his flock, and became an influential preacher across the country. Few ministers remain faithful to a single congregation for an extended period—Kershaw committed himself to the same church he attended as a boy. His autobiography, “Memorials of the Mercies of a Covenant God while Traveling through the Wilderness”, is one of the best written of its genre. The following excerpt from this book (third edition) is selected in order to highlight the joy of those that sat under his ministry. Lines to the Memory of Mr. Kershaw, Fifty-Two Years Pastor of the Church at Hope Chapel, Rochdale, Who Died on the 11th January, 1870, in the 78th…

  • John E. Hazelton's "Hold-Fast" (Complete)

    Preface

    "Hold-Fast" A Sketch of Covenant Truth and Its Witnesses By: John E. Hazelton “Hold fast the form of sound words” (2 Tim 1:13) “An everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure” (2 Sam 23:5) --------------------------- The following pages are but a slight sketch of a vital subject; they aim in a simple way to show the continuity through the centuries of the testimony to “the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3). The Author has, so far as possible, given interesting quotations, bearing upon present-day perils, so that it may be said of each Witness referred to at any length, “He being dead yet speaketh.” With Montesquieu the writer would say, “I have culled a garland of flowers, and…