Christmas Sermon

The English pastor's works were burned in the American south because they spoke against the evils of slavery—yet they inspired a slave who would eventually ...

Spurgeon: The People’s Preacher](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKYQW5KB40U) (movie) [Through the Eyes of Spurgeon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a6R96XhPaA) (video documentary) [Tethered to the Cross: The Life and Preaching of Charles H. I close with the following small sample and a hearty wish to you and yours for a very Merry Christmas! "Is it not proven beyond all dispute that there is no limit to the enormities which men will commit when they are once persuaded that they are keepers of other men's consciences? His written words were provocative enough to stoke the anger of a hundred townspeople in the late hours of a holiday evening. London descended into passionate mourning of a man the capital city had come to love as much as Thomas Johnson did. His sermons were bold enough to spark a two-story fire in the middle of the town square in Richmond, Virginia. Carter and Ivey report that “Charles savored and kept each letter in a neat stack in the bottom drawer of his study desk.” When Charles died in 1892, Thomas, in tears, was at his bedside. So—right before I threw that paper into the fire—a big ol’ smile crept up on my face and I thought—‘I sure would like to hear that man preach one day!’”…Charles reeled with delight, amused by the Lord’s sense of humor. Known variously as “the quintessential Victorian Englishman,” “the pulpit’s most spellbinding orator,” “London’s most famous, beloved, and influential man of the cloth,” and “the Prince of Preachers,” he left behind volumes of sermons and articles (as well as an autobiography) almost too numerous to count. Thomas Johnson was born a slave in Virginia in 1836 and lived in bondage for twenty-eight years until the conclusion of the Civil War. Every year on this day as he finalized what he would offer in his next sermon, he reveled in the spirit of the season. Philip Ort writes of his affection for the holiday: