This book contains eleven great sermons by the great Welsh itinerant preacher, John Elias (1774-1841), all newly and ably translated from the Welsh by Owen Milton. Here you will find a feast of biblical, doctrinal, experiential, and practical food that shows how great preachers in ages past proclaimed the whole counsel of God over a period of time while remaining faithful in expounding individual texts in accord with their major themes. These sermons, which richly expound nearly every major doctrine of grace, are as relevant and helpful as when they were first written. Here you will find the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man persuasively expounded. Such themes as God's sovereign calling of sinners, the experiential knowledge and fullness of Christ, the dangers of ignoring the gospel call, earnest prayer for the Spirit, the greatness of God's peace, the believer's love for Christ, the blessing of a contrite spirit, and the immanency of the Second Advent are set forth with convicting power. Practical themes such as how to listen to preaching and how to respect governmental authority are also expounded with fresh clarity. Elias's sermons exhibit all the strengths of a godly preacher-pastor-writer. Read them slowly and prayerfully, and, with the Spirit's blessing, you will grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
John Elias was a preacher in Wales in the first half of the 19th century, as part of the Welsh Methodist revival. His preaching was noted as being exceptionally powerful, "as if talking fire down from heaven". On one occasion it is said he preached to a crowd of 10,000 people.
He was a strict High-Calvinist who believed in the literal truth of the Bible. At one stage he argued strongly for the controversial doctrine of Elected Salvation, meaning that salvation was pre-ordained for a select few. He came to be known as The Methodist Pope because of his forthright views.
Despite his wide interests, he was a religious conservative who opposed all forms of political Radicalism as well as the assertion, popular at the time amongst Nonconformists in Wales, that "the voice of the people was the voice of God".
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