THE WESTMINSTER PULPIT SERMONS

The Westminster Pulpit sermons are some of the most famous messages preached by G. Campbell Morgan. They were delivered during his first Westminster pastorate, from 1906-1916, and are still popular and in print today. The version of these sermons most common today is made up of ten volumes, each with twenty-six chapters…for a total of 260 sermons. They cover a wide range of topics, all tied to a Biblical theme or text, and showcase Morgan’s deep Biblical knowledge, understanding of human behavior, as well as practical application.

A newer reprint of Morgan’s sermons by Baker books

 

The Westminster Pulpit…and the case of the missing sermons!

What some might not know is that the Westminster Pulpit books sold today are NOT the original Westminster Pulpit Series. The original ones published by Hodder and Stoughton were 52 chapters in length (one for each week of the year) and included missions sermons, important topical messages (such as the sinking of the Titanic, the anniversary of his coming to Westminster, or thoughts on the First World War). They also contained a number of special sermon series that were intended for later publication…though that sometimes did not transpire.

Below is a comparison between the original volumes by Hodder and Stoughton and some of the more recent versions. The originals were blue hardcover with the date on the spine and the volume number on the front cover. Important to note is that they contained 52 sermons each (double the modern volumes), and ran to over 400 pages per volume…in very small print!

 

Comparing the Different Versions of the Westminster Pulpit

In order to show some of the differences, we have copies of Volume 4, below. The more modern versions (first republished by Fleming H. Revell, then later by Baker Books) contains 26 chapters starting with “Thou Shalt Remember” and ending with “The Rights of God”

The Wipf and Stock version is paperback, and also contains only 26 chapters in each volume…omitting half of the original Hodder and Stoughton publication. It follows the same chapters as the Baker Books version, above.

 

 

The Original Volumes

As mentioned above, the original volumes contained 52 chapters – a sermon for every week of the year. As a comparison, here is the title page and chapter listing of “Volume IV” from 1909.

 

The Differences

As you can see, this volume starts with “Thou Shalt Remember” and ends as the other publications do with “The Rights of God”…but omits 26 chapters, such as:

• Chapters 15 & 16 on Jacob
• Chapters 20 & 21 & 47 on Christ and Mary Magdalene; Christ and Pilate; and Christ and the Crowds – the original Westminster Pulpit volumes contained many such “Christ and..” sermons. Many of these were later refashioned and published as “The Great Physician”…a 50 chapter work on Christ’s dealings with people.
• Chapters 31-36: The series on the Prodigal Son – this was later published separately, see below.
• Chapters 44 & 49 on missions in India
• …and so on!

 

The Prodigal Son

In 1949, exactly 40 years after he first preached them (and five years after Morgan had passed away), his series on the prodigal son from the Westminster Pulpit, Vol IV was republished in a small book entitled “The Parable of the Father’s Heart.” You can see below that the book follows the six sermons that were originally preached in 1909. As the title of the book suggests, the publishers felt that Morgan’s emphasis was not so much on the young son’s disobedience, as the Father’s great love and forgiveness.

 

 

 

Westminster Pulpit Volume Two (1907)

In a similar way, each of the original volumes have half of the original missing. Below is Volume Two, which actually contained the “Bible and the Cross” sermons, which a couple of years later made up the “Bible and the Cross” book, published by Fleming H. Revell in 1909.

• Includes “The Bible and the Cross” (sermons 8-10 and 17-19)…later published in a book.
• Includes “Christ Greater…” series (sermons 23-24, 26-28).
• Includes the “Christ and…” series (sermons 45-50). These were added to in Volume 4 (see above).
• Also includes missions sermons on India and China. As noted on our short biography of Morgan, Westminster chapel was a very missions-minded church and gave a large sum to missions every year!

The Bible and the Cross (1909) containing sermons from Westminster Pulpit, volume 2.

 

Below is one of the more recent publications of Volume Two, showing only 26 chapters:

 

 

The Original Westminster Pulpit Series…coming soon!

In conjunction with www.ClassicChristianEbooks.com we are hoping to publish these missing sermons. Check back soon for both the Kindle and Paperback versions. We hope these rare and uplifting messages will finally come back into print after more than a century hidden away!

For more on the sermons of G. Campbell Morgan, see our SERMONS page.