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The Way of Salvation

REV. CHARLES G. FINNEY

Late President of Oberlin College

1896
Reformatted by Katie Stewart


The following 25 sermons represent ten percent of the sermons that C. G. Finney published in the periodical, The Oberlin Evangelist --- 1839-1862. They were selected by Professor Cowles, who wrote down many of Finney's sermons, because he felt that they best exemplified the Gospel message in a concise presentation. The modern reader will find that Finney appeals to the heart by requiring his readers to think. "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18). Finney depended upon the Holy Spirit to press home the logic of his case so that his readers would have to yield. "Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required" (Luke 12:48). --Tom Stewart, WStS
"President Finney had the rare ability of so interpreting the divine plan of salvation as at once to instruct the theologian and to bring its moving thoughts to bear with all their power upon the hearts of the common people." --G. Frederick Wright, 1891

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Table of Contents"

SERMON I - The Rule By Which The Guilt Of Sin Is Estimated

SERMON II - The Self-Hardening Sinner's Doom

SERMON III - The Loss When A Soul Is Lost

SERMON IV - God's Anger Against The Wicked

SERMON V - Men Invited To Reason Together With God

SERMON VI - Conscience And The Bible In Harmony

SERMON VII - Salvation Difficult To The Christian, Impossible To The Sinner

SERMON VIII - The Salvation Of Sinners Impossible

SERMON IX - Any One Form Of Sin Persisted In Is Fatal To The Soul

SERMON X - The Wrath Of God Against Those Who Withstand His Truth

SERMON XI - The Doom Of Those Who Neglect So Great Salvation

SERMON XII - All Things For Good To Those That Love God

SERMON XIII - All Things Conspire For Evil To The Sinner

SERMON XIV -God Has No Pleasure In The Sinner's Death

SERMON XV - The Rich Man And Lazarus

SERMON XVI - The Wants Of Man And Their Supply

SERMON XVII - On Believing With The Heart

SERMON XVIII - On Being Holy

SERMON XIX - On Self-Denial

SERMON XX - On Following Christ

SERMON XXI - Conditions Of Prevailing Prayer

SERMON XXII - An Approving Heart, Confidence In Prayer

SERMON XXIII - On Prayer

SERMON XXIV - On Prayer For The Holy Spirit

SERMON XXV - Afflictions Of The Righteous And The Wicked Contrasted

GLOSSARY of easily misunderstood terms as defined by Mr. Finney himself.

THE continued interest manifested by the Christian public in the sermons of President Finney, which were first published now nearly sixty years ago, bears testimony to the vigour of his reasoning and to the grace and unction of his expression. During this century at least, he has had no equal as an interpreter and preacher of the Gospel. The audiences which he moved and guided to the acceptance of the truth, always included many persons of the highest intellectual order. So clear was his conception of the truth, that he was unable to utter an obscure sentence. So profound was his conviction of the justice and love of God, and of the unreasonableness and folly of sin, that he could not but speak with inspiring eloquence when beseeching men to be reconciled to their Lord and Saviour.

Many of the sermons collected in this volume we remember to have heard from the preacher's own lips. It is, of course, impossible through the medium of the printed page to reproduce all the marvelous power attending the sermons in their original delivery. But Professor Cowles was a sympathetic reporter, and had long practice in writing out the discourses of the great preacher he so much admired, and thus was able to present a remarkably correct report. As an additional guarantee of faithful representation, the reports were read by Professor Cowles to President Finney before their original publication in the Oberlin Evangelist, and so have upon them the stamp of the preacher's own approval.

The sermons of the present volume were selected by Professor Cowles and arranged for publication before his death, and they are now given to the public under the conviction that they present with unrivalled clearness, phases of truth in need of special emphasis at the present time, and that they have permanent value both as models for the preacher and as sound philosophical discussions of many of the central themes of the Gospel. President Finney had the rare ability of so interpreting the divine plan of salvation as at once to instruct the theologian and to bring its moving thoughts to bear with all their power upon the hearts of the common people. We rejoice in the larger circulation which the present form of publication will give to this selection of sermons. Through the columns of the Oberlin Evangelist they reached a highly appreciative circle of readers in their day. It augurs well that in their present form they are likely to reach many thousands more, and to have a larger share in moulding the theological thought of the present generation.

G. FREDERICK WRIGHT.