I remember how excited I was when I first discovered that different individuals had recorded their readings of the sermons of Charles Spurgeon, Jonathan Edwards, John Flavel and John Bunyan. I then remember the overwhelming disappointment I experienced when I realized that they were read without any inflection or variation in the readers’ intonation. The reason for this monotone approach? Apparently, reading with inflection could take away from the author’s intention or emphasize something it ought not. This sort of approach made the readings incredibly boring, and became the reason I abandoned all attempts to listen to them any longer.I have often commented how nice it would be to have Sinclair Ferguson, Eric Alexander, or some other noteworthy preacher read and record select, historic sermons.
Much to my amazement, I discovered that Mark Dever has been reading and recording Richard Sibbes’ sermons since this past July. According to Capitol Hill Baptist Church’s website, “The ‘Reading Sibbes Aloud Project’ provides a growing collection of sermons of the Puritan Richard Sibbes. The great value of Puritan writing continues to be its depth of scriptural insight and timeless application. Please join Mark Dever as he reads through the works of the “Prince of the Puritans†Richard Sibbes.” You can find links to the ‘Reading Richard Sibbes Aloud Project’ here. You can download and listen to the following Sibbes sermons:
It would be nice if they added the sermon text in each case and reference to the print edition, for those who might want to follow along.
“The Spouse, Her Earnest Desire after Christ”, for instance, is in volume 2, pp. 200-208 of the Banner of Truth edition of The Works of Richard Sibbes.
A friend of mine goes to some of the live readings. I think they’re at 7 AM!
Oops! Dever does give the vol. and page number at the start of the mp3 recording.
Wayne,
Thanks for pointing that out. We are blessed to have such a thoughtful historian in our denomination. I am especially thankful for the work you’ve done on the sermon index at the Historical Archive Center.
Tim,
One of my best friends is an intern there and said it is at 7 am. He said hardly anyone goes. I certainly would if I lived in D.C.
Not all of us have the best voices, but we could all be doing this with various individuals. It would bless our own souls and others as well.
Nick,
Thanks very much for pointing these out. What a great project.
Of a certainty, Mark Dever is a force to be reckoned with. God has surely blessed His Church with men of his caliber in this day and age.
Nick, when I was in college, we had an equally wonderful Puritan Reading. Every Sunday evening after worship, my beloved pastor and friend Irfon Hughes (now “retired” and an assistant pastor in Fayetteville, NC) hosted as many as 80+ college students in his home while he read to us from Puritan Paperbacks.
We filled the first floor of his house with chairs. Then he would stand in the middle reading to us from books like Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices and A Godly Man’s Picture supplemented with his own commentary and modern day application.
This was a spiritual fruitful time for many of us and a true blessing. On top of that, Pastor Hughes introduced hundreds of us to the Banner of Truth and Puritan writings. I think many of us look back on that as a highlight of college.
In 2005 or 2006, Dr. Pipa spoke at our church’s Winter Seminar and was able to join us for the Sunday evening fellowship. Afterward, he remarked to Pastor Hughes that if he went before GA and said he was packing College Students into his house to hear a 65 year old Welshman read Puritans, he’d get laughed out of the building! But how we thank God for it!
Tim, From which colleges did these students come? I went to Westminster College in the early ’70s and occasionally attended the church in Volant when Prof. Tom Gregory was preaching for Rev. Dick Knodel. Do you know of there is much of a Reformed group at Westminster these days?
Same church. All of the students came from Grove City.
About 5 years ago, the associate pastor at the time tried to start some outreach work at Westminster but didn’t make any headway. I never met any Westminster students even though our church was just as close to Westminster as it was to Grove City.