The Oxford Handbook of the British Sermon 1689-1901

The period 1689-1901 was ‘the golden age’ of the sermon in Britain. Sermons out-sold other books until the mid-nineteenth century and were a key part of peoples’ religious worship. Sermons influenced the outcome of elections, they challenged science and were used as vehicles for popular campaigns such as that for the abolition of slavery. The popularity of sermons should not be underestimated. Preachers attracted huge crowds, the Baptist minister Charles Spurgeon regularly preached to 5,000 people, and the popular demand for sermons was never higher. Sermons were also taken by missionaries and clergy across the British empire. Sermons varied widely in form, and this enabled preaching to be adopted and shaped by every denomination, so that in this period most religious groups could lay claim to a sermon culture.