Dedicated To
THE NOBLE WOMEN OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH,
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA,
BY REASONOF WHOSELOYALTY AND ASSISTANCEIN ALL
CHRISTIANSERVICE THEWRITER HAS GREATLY
ENJOYEDAPASTORATEOF FORTY-ONE
CONSECUTIVE YEARS.
FOREWORD
THE successful pastor does not neglect any section of society. In his preaching he must provide a portion for each and all. This is to be accomplished by varied methods.
The general truths of Scripture are as essential to the spiritual life of mankind as are bread and water to the physical being; and yet as there are special dishes, some adapted to the babe, others to the full-grown man, and still others to old age, so Scriptural truth must be adapted to different ages and sexes. The minister who can give a sermon that attracts, teaches, and inspires children is the subject of sincere congratulation. A speaker who can hold the attention of strong men, break their hearts with a sense of sin, and send them by the route of prayer into the Divine Presence, is always and everywhere in demand.
But in this matter of ministering to immortal souls, WOMEN are not to be neglected. Since the day when the Master of men assembled His first disciples, woman has occupied a conspicuous place in the Christian church. As has often been said, she was not only the last at the cross and the first at the tomb, but she was the first to herald the resurrection, and from that moment till now, she has been the prominent messenger of the cross and lover of the Christ.
Christianity, in a real sense, became her Magna Charta. From the beginning it emphasized her immortality and set itself for her liberation. Heathenism permitted woman no features of freedom; Judaism granted her but few; Christianity, however, with a single sentence struck the chains of her slavery a breaking blow—
“In Christ Jesus . . . there is neither male nor female” (Galatians 3:28).
It has taken twenty centuries, however, for this inspired sentence to accomplish sex equality. The Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, like the Eighteenth Amendment, had a Scriptural warrant for its basis; but, unlike the Eighteenth, seems destined to stand the test of time.
In recent years, woman has been the subject of constant and much legislation. Today she is rapidly becoming its author. While it is doubtful whether all positions she is now assuming find Scriptural approval, it is certain that her place in the Church, in society, and in the state has become so important that the minister who reaches her mind and heart with the Gospel is influencing future generations by the most direct route.
No pastor needs to justify a series of sermons prepared for the purpose of and delivered with the view to influencing womankind. On the contrary, his call so to do is both important and imperative.
It was that conviction which sent this speaker into the pulpit of the First Baptist Church, Minneapolis, with a series of ten sermons, eight of which appear in this volume. The other two—“The Woman Who Never Faltered nor Failed—Ruth, the Wife of Boaz,” and “The Woman Who Preferred Modesty to a Crown— Vashti, the Wife of Ahasuerus,” will be found in their proper place in our series of forty volumes covering the entire Bible under the title of “The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist.”
God used the delivery of these sermons in the salvation of men and women. We give them in book form, hoping for a kindred result to readers.
W. B. Riley
Minneapolis, Minn.