A Treatise on the Need of the M. E. Church With Respect to Her Ministry: Embodied in a Sermon, and Preached by Request Before the New-York East Conference, May 22, 1855 (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from A Treatise on the Need of the M. E. Church W...)
Excerpt from A Treatise on the Need of the M. E. Church With Respect to Her Ministry: Embodied in a Sermon, and Preached by Request Before the New-York East Conference, May 22, 1855
Every sincere and honest-minded minister must feel that his is no ordinary vocation; that, indeed, God has intrusted him with the most exalted and responsible mission ever committed to man.
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(The subject of Predestination has, for many ages, engaged...)
The subject of Predestination has, for many ages, engaged the attention of theologians and philosophers. That the world is governed by fixed and permanent laws, is evident, even to the casual observer. But by whom those laws are established, and how far they extend, have been matters of controversy. In the Christian world, all admit that the will of God is the great source of law. In the arrangements of the vast systems of worlds, as well as in the formation of the earth, with all its varied tribes, we recognize the hand of Him who doeth "his will in the heavens above and in the earth beneath." All acknowledge the existence of a Divine decree; but the questions arise, Do all things thus come to pass? Are human actions the result of laws as fixed and unalterable as those which govern the movements of the planets? Is the destiny of every human being unchangeably determined before his birth, without reference to foreseen conduct? Or has the mind a power of choice? can it move freely within certain specified limits? and will the nature of its movements and choice influence its eternal happiness? These are questions which, in some form, have exercised the highest powers of the human intellect.
Centenary Thoughts for the Pew and Pulpit of Methodism in Eighteen Hundred and Eighty-four
(This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)
This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. This text refers to the Bibliobazaar edition.
Randolph Sinks Foster was an American Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, elected in 1872. He is also noted for his service as a President of Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, 1857-1860.
Background
Randolph Sinks Foster was born on February 22, 1820 in the county jail, Williamsburg, Clermont County, Ohio, of which his father was the jailer. He was the son of Israel and Polly (Kain) Foster. His grandfather, Thomas Foster, had emigrated from England, settled in Berkeley County, Virginia, and died of wounds inflicted by Indians while he was on an expedition in Kentucky. Later the family moved to Kentucky where the boy grew up.
Education
At an early age he entered Augusta College, Kentucky. While there it was his misfortune to become known as a remarkable “boy preacher, ” and unwise counselors persuaded him to leave college and enter the ministry when he was but seventeen years old. He regretted this action subsequently.
Career
In 1837 Foster was admitted to the Ohio Conference on probation, was received into full connection and ordained deacon in 1839 and was made elder in 1841. The first thirteen years of his ministry were spent in western Virginia and Ohio. Toward the close of this period he came into prominence as a writer, publishing in 1849 his Objections to Calvinism As It Is, in a Series of Letters Addressed to Rev. N. L. Rice, D. D. , a Presbyterian who had assailed the doctrines of Methodism. It is a work marked by intellectual vigor and clear, concise statement, and furnished busy preachers with an arsenal of facts and argument wherewith to defend themselves against the frequent attacks of the Calvinists.
In 1850 he was transferred to the New York Conference and stationed at the Mulberry Street Church, New York. All his subsequent pastorates were in or about that city. The following year appeared one of his most widely read books, an extensive, practical discussion of holiness and how it may be attained, entitled Nature and Blessedness of Christian Purity. A revised edition was published in 1869 under the title, Christian Purity or the Heritage of Faith.
In June 1856 he was elected president of Northwestern University, though he did not assume duties until the fall of 1857. The institution was in its infancy and its resources were insufficient. Foster had no taste for drudgery or business, even disliking to manage his own affairs, and in 1860 he returned to the active ministry.
In 1868 he became a professor of systematic theology at Drew Theological Seminary, and from 1870 to 1872, when he was elected bishop, he filled the office of president.
His duties as bishop carried him to all the Conferences in this country and to Mexico, South America, Europe, and the East.
In 1902 he went on the non-effective list, and the closing years of his life, spent near Boston, were devoted to work upon his Studies in Theology, an attempt at a thorough discussion of fundamental problems.
Six volumes were published (1889 - 99).
Among his publications not already mentioned are: Beyond the Grave (1879), extensively criticized because of some of its conclusions; Centenary Thoughts for Pew and Pulpit (1884); Philosophy of Christian Experience (1890); Union of Episcopal Methodism s (1892).
Foster died at Newton Centre, Massachusetts on 1 May 1903. He was buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York.
In his religious denomination Foster was a Methodist. In 1850 he moved to New York City and took over the pulpit of Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, and was an American Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, elected in 1872.
Views
His outlook was broad and his interest was in things cosmic. As a bishop Foster was sometimes criticized for arbitrariness and harshness. His preaching had in it both intellectual power and deep emotionality. Much of what he wrote belongs to the past generation, but discloses a mind of the best type. He was indifferent to authority, and “he would have as soon appealed to the Fathers for the truth of the multiplication table as for the truth of anything depending upon reason”.
Quotations:
“When you take the sires of the cage apart, you do not hurt the bird, but you help it. You let it out of its prison. How do you know that death does not help me when it takes the wires of my cage down?-that it does not release me, and put me into some better place and better condition of life?"
Personality
Foster loathed ecclesiastical politics and was honest and plain-spoken, but kind at heart. He was tall and impressive in appearance, and stalwart in mind and character.
Connections
In July 1840 Randolph Sinks Foster married Sarah A. Miley of Cincinnati. Foster and his wife had several children.