The World's Great Sermons, Volume 08: Talmage to Knox Little — Reading Notes

Rhetorical Extremes: From Sensationalism to Simplicity

Talmage's sermon exemplifies what the biographical note calls 'floridness and sensationalism.' He personifies alcohol as a 'bloody monster' that 'hath strewn the continent with the mangled carcasses of whole generations,' a vivid but hyperbolic image. His evidence is a rapid-fire list: 'Noah took to strong drink. By this vice, Alexander the Conqueror was conquered.' The pace is breathless, the syntax paratactic. Moody, by contrast, avoids such ornament. His opening line—'What think ye of Christ?'—is a direct quotation from Matthew, and his paragraphs are built from short, declarative sentences. The biographical note reports that Moody 'largely disregarded form' and 'thought little of the sermon as such.' The excerpts bear this out: where Talmage piles up historical examples, Moody narrows focus to a single question, repeated and reframed.

The Preacher's Voice as Evidence

The editorial apparatus—biographical notes and footnotes—offers clues about how these sermons were originally delivered. Talmage's note mentions that 'six hundred newspapers regularly printed his sermons,' suggesting a mass audience reached through print. His voice, described as 'high and unmusical,' contrasts with the 'peculiar attraction' of his 'pulpit oratory.' Moody's note quotes Henry Drummond praising his 'pathos' and 'appealing tenderness,' qualities that emerge in the excerpt's closing appeal: 'Do you believe in the forgiveness of sins? Then find in that faith an impact to obedience.' The shift from third-person description to second-person address is a hallmark of Moody's style. The volume thus preserves not only content but traces of performance: Talmage's elaborate imagery suited a reader, while Moody's directness mimicked live exhortation.

Recurring Motifs: Forgiveness and Eternity

Despite their stylistic differences, several sermons converge on two themes. The excerpt from Clifford's 'The Forgiveness of Sins' insists that forgiveness is 'not only the very beginning of the Christian life, but also the continuous need of that life.' It ends with a creedal affirmation: 'I believe in the resurrection from the dead and in the life everlasting.' Similarly, the anonymous excerpt (possibly from Knox Little) uses the Anglo-Saxon story of a bird flying through a hall to illustrate life's brevity, concluding that 'this life does not end all; we are going to an eternity of blessedness.' These passages share a rhythm of short, parallel clauses and a movement from present struggle to future hope. The repetition of 'Do you believe' in Clifford's sermon and 'Boast not thyself of to-morrow' in the other creates a liturgical cadence that transcends individual voice.

Readers approaching this collection should attend to the interplay between sermon text and biographical note. The notes often comment on delivery—Talmage's 'earnestness of manner,' Moody's 'great sympathetic nature'—which the sermons themselves cannot fully convey. Comparing how each preacher handles a shared theme, such as forgiveness or the brevity of life, reveals the range of homiletic strategy in this period. The volume rewards a slow reading that listens for the pulpit behind the page.

I kept thinking about how Moody’s plain words made eternity feel so near, not distant. That same quiet ache for something bigger stayed with me, like a warm weight on the chest. It reminded me of The Sympathy of Religions — Story, Setting & Ideas, where the search for meaning feels less like a doctrine and more like a shared breath.