The Whisper of God and Other Sermons

by F.W. Boreham

A rare collection of sermons by F. W. Boreham. This was his first full-length book, and exemplifies his striking ability to see God anywhere and everywhere. Boreham wrote at least 50 full-length books and has been called the greatest essayist in the English language. His work has been hailed in recent days by Billy and Ruth Graham, Ravi Zacharias, and Warren Wiersbe as one of the most under-appreciated authors of the 20th century. "Of the books that have played the greatest role in molding me, I count many volumes by especially one F. W. Boreham. He authored more than fifty books of essays and pastored congregations in New Zealand, Tasmania, and Australia. He was not the classical preacher, not even a profound, deep preacher, but he was marvelous at seeing beauty in the simple things of life. He heeded John Wesley's charge to young preachers to blend simplicity with sublimity, 'the strongest sense in the plainest language." —Ravi Zacharias

141 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1902

About the author

Rev. Dr. Frank W. Boreham
(March 3rd 1871 – May 18th 1959) Served, and wrote, in the UK, New Zealand, and Australia.

Reviews

[Cynthia Egbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

"For all practical purposes a whisper is enough. The truth of a whisper is as great as the truth of a shout. A whisper from God is enough to tell me that God is; it is enough to tell me that He cares for me, for He whispers to me. A whisper to the bad man, to the dishonest man, to the unbelieving man is enough. Caesar was warned by a whisper. He heeded it not, and went on to his death. But he was as much and as truly warned as though all Rome had thundered out 'Beware!'."

An interesting gathering of some of Boreham's sermons. I think I like his pure writings better but these still offer some real gems. Some of them offered below.

"I am but as a little child, picking up shells on the shores of Eternity." -Isaac Newton

"With the work of man familiarity breeds contempt, and distance lends enchantment to the view. With the work of God the very opposite is the case."

"Why, men and women, we often catch ourselves talking of the Cross of Christ, of the Atonement, and especially of God's plan of salvation, as though it were a simple thing, and all its heights, and depths, and lengths, and breadths, fully and thoroughly and exhaustively explored by us. And yet, and yet! are we not led to suppose that that 'plan of salvation' took an Eternity to arrange, that it has all the ages of Time as the theatre of its operations, and that it will take another Eternity to reveal it?"

"A man makes more noise in clearing the snow off his front path than the sun makes in melting a million tons of it. God is so wonderfully silent because He is so wonderfully active."

"The Infinite always is silent,
'Tis only the finite speaks." -John Boyle O'Reilly

"If God were to step in to miraculously prevent every injustice; to strike down every man who breaks His Sabbath; to paralyze every hand that steals; to silence every tongue that curses; what a little God He would soon seem to us! Instead of being august He would only be terrible; instead of being reverntly feared He would only become the object of universal fright. The thunder is grand, awful, dignified, because it thunders so rarely; if it thundered every day it would become commonplace."

"I want to say before I close that God with all His omnipotence at His disposal never wastes anything. He never sends a flood if a shower will do; never sends a fortune if a shilling will do; never sends an army if a man will do. And He never thunders if a whisper will do."

"If you are fool enough to say, 'I don't want God's whispers; it must be thunder or nothing!' God will say: It shall be nothing."

"Piety to God,: says Carlyle, in his account of the education of young Friedrich, "cannot be taught by the most exquisite catechisms, or the most industrious preachings and drillings. No; alas, no. Only by far other methods - chiefly by silent, continual example, silently waiting for the favorable mood and moment, and aided then by a kind of miracle, well enough named 'the grace of God' - can that sacred contagion pass from soul to soul."

"Mr. J. A. Froude, the eminent historian, bears witness that 'of all human writings, those which perhaps have produced the deepest effect on the history of the world have been St. Paul's Epistles'."

"Happy indeed are they who look their worst troubles in the face and make friends with them."

"His Deity flamed through His humanity at every turn; and often when He was most humanly human He was most divinely Divine. It has often been pointed out that whilst He is born a babe at Bethlehem, and cradled in a manger, yet angels fill the air and herald His advent. He sits wearied on the well, and begs water off a woman; yet He offers her life everlasting. He weeps with the sisters at Bethany; yet He calls the dead from the tomb...His perfect humanity only hid the radiance of His Deity to just such an extent as to fill us wiht an eagar yearing after the clearer, beatific vision."

"Charles the Seventh was dancing at one of his innumerable balls when the English armies were marching into Paris. One of the nobles hurried into the Royal presence for instructions at such a crisis. The King frivolously showed him the programme for the next day's sport, and asked the Count what he thought of it. 'I think, sire,' replied the nobleman with indignation, 'that it is absolutely impossible for anyone to lose his kingdom more pleasantly than Your Majesty is now doing!' That was a fine rebuke; and its fine edge need not be wasted on a giddy monarch. It cuts all men who amid their 'fruits, and goods, and barns, and wealth' are losing the Kingdom of Heaven pleasantly."

"By every standard, accepted in everyday traffic, Sodom was incomparably worse than Capernaum. Let us think. I remember seeing a carpenter come home at the close of his hard day's toil. He was tired out, and I easily excused him when, without waiting to was his hands, he sat down to his evening meal. I saw, on another occsion, a doctor come in from a long round. His hands looked faultlessly clean. And yet I noticed that, although he was no less tired, he rinsed and rubbed his hands most thoroughly ere he sat at the table. Why? Because, although there was no comparison in outward appearance between his clean fingers and the begrimed hands of the artisan, he knew there might linger on those faultless fingertips the germs of disease far more fatal than all the honest dirt that clung to the hands of the laborer. In the respectable Capernaum there was a sinfulness less apparent, yet far more vicious, than all the more external defilements of Sodom. And it may be, my good friend, that in your respectable, more, and upright life there are the germs of pride, self-satisfaction, and Pharisaism far more perilous to your eternal destiny than all the outward shame that you abhor in others."

"I saw a nursery man bring home a packet of zinc labels with which to mark his trees. I took a pen and ink and commenced to write on one. But the ink would not adhere, and what I managed to smear on was easily wiped off again. Then he came. He took down a tiny flask of fluid as clear as water, and, with a quill, he wrote upon the zinc. And that clear acid, hissing on the zinc, burned itself in, and the letters stood out clear and black and plain. May it not be that your clean sins, that look so supremely insignificant in the sight of men, are burning themselves into your soul far more indelibly than are the sins of others that to you appear more inky black? I say, so it may be. So, at least, it was with poor, self-righteous Capernaum; and she was thunderstruck to hear that, in the sight of God, even Sodom was less obnoxious than was she."

"Between character and reputation there is all the difference in the world. Christ made Himself of no reputation, but He would never, for any purpose, have surrendered His character. Yet it is just here that the popular idea of sin is hopelessly astray. Men take it that they may play fast and loose with their characters to keep their hearts' content, so long as they keep their reputations clear. And yet, in the sight of God, the reputation is to the character as the clothes are to the body."

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice collection of Boreham's writings, which still read well today. The title message, "The Whisper of God," is especially beautiful -- almost poetic. Wonderful writing, with powerful insight into God's Word.

[Kristine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish i could give it more stars. So good.

[Iris Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had this book in my unfinished shelved books and just realized I needed to finish. Excellent read.