Best Sermons Ever (Compact Edition)

Christopher Howse is an assistant editor of The Daily Telegraph and a regular contributor to The Spectator and The Tablet. Among his bestselling books for Continuum are Prayers for This Life (2005) and The Assurance of Hope (2006). He is the author of How We Saw It: 150 years of The Daily Telegraph (2004).

Each sermon is introduced by a short note on the preacher and his time and a contemporary prayer is added at the end. The sermons range from hell fire to profound spiritual comfort. John Knox`s sermon castigates the monstrous regiment of women, Bossuet preaches on the love of God and Martin Luther King on his dream of the Promised Land.Some sermons are familiar as are many of the authors but the book is also packed with surprises- including sermons by Herman Melville, Laurence Sterne and Thomas Aquinas. This unique book will edify, delight and amuse. It is also of quite exceptional historical interest.

Introduction1. Peter the Apostle . Prayer: The end in view2. John Chrysostom . Prayer for the Virgin's intercession, fourth century; Extract from an ancient homily for Holy Saturday: Christ's descent into the underworld; God's protection by St. Patrick3. St. Augustine . Night prayer by Alcuin4. Aelfric . Prayer: Watch over me by St. Dunstan5. St. Bernard . Prayer: Come, Creator Spirit; Sermon notes by Thomas Aquinas for the feast of St. Bartholomew the Apostle; Prayer of giving by St. Francis of Assissi; Private devotions6. The Homilies . Prayer: Patience works7. Lancelot Andrewes . Morning prayer by Lancelot Andrewes)8. John Donne . Prayer: The call by George Herbert9. Jeremy Taylor . Prayer from the Book of Common Prayer10. John Bunyan . Help for prisoners: Prayer after sentence of death by John Gother11. Jonathan Swift . Prayer: Melancholy by Christopher Smart12. Jonathan Edwards . A prayer found in Mrs. Chapone's handwriting after her death from Hester Chapone13. John Wesley . A prayer that may easily be said by a woman in the state of pregnancy by Richard Challoner14. Laurence Sterne . Prayer by Charles Wesley15. Sydney Smith . Prayer: Gunpowder treason by John Keble16. John Henry Newman . Prayer by Gerard Manley Hopkins17. Charles Spurgeon . Prayer to Mary by Ronald Knox18. Martin Luther King, Jr. . Prayer: Jesus by Mother Teresa19. H. A. Williams . Prayer: Extract from a sermon by Billy Graham, California, 1974; Prayer for murderers by Bishop Dehqani-Tafti20. Pope John Paul II