The material reprinted in this volume contains nearly all of Stoddard’s remaining unpublished sermons, including seven excellent messages for the “benefit of the gospel to those who are wounded in spirit,” as well as ten individual sermons that cover such subjects as the cleansing power of Christ’s blood, the gospel as a means of conversion, false hopes of salvation, and the trial of assurance. Author Solomon Stoddard graduated from Harvard in 1662 and was its first librarian. In 1672 he became the second pastor of the church at Northampton, succeeding Eleazer Mather. He shepherded that church until his death in 1729.