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The Justification of a Sinner before God
Two sermons preached at Gower Street Chapel, London on 14 and 21 November 1841 [On Sunday, 14 November 1841, Pastor Kershaw spoke on the subject of justification. His text was Job 25:4. Although he intended to cover his three headings in a single sermon, he took up only the first heading on Sunday 14 November, then completed the final two headings on Sunday 21 November. The two sermons are combined in the manuscript that follows.] "How then can man be justified with God?”—Job 25:4 The doctrine of justification is clearly and strikingly revealed in the sacred oracles of truth, and is by God the Holy Ghost made manifest in the souls of all the election of grace. Hence, Paul speaks of it as one of…
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Introduction
John Kershaw (1792-1870) was pastor for fifty-two years of Hope Chapel, Rochdale. He exercised a powerful ministry among his flock, and became an influential preacher across the country. Few ministers remain faithful to a single congregation for an extended period—Kershaw committed himself to the same church he attended as a boy. His autobiography, “Memorials of the Mercies of a Covenant God while Traveling through the Wilderness”, is one of the best written of its genre. The following excerpt from this book (third edition) is selected in order to highlight the joy of those that sat under his ministry. Lines to the Memory of Mr. Kershaw, Fifty-Two Years Pastor of the Church at Hope Chapel, Rochdale, Who Died on the 11th January, 1870, in the 78th…
