Adolphe Monod (1802-1856AD)

Reformed pastor and theologian of France.

ADOLPHE MONOD, was beyond dispute the greatest preacher of the Protestant Church of France of the 19th century. He was born in Copenhagen in 1802 and died at Paris in 1856. He was the fourth of the twelve children of Jean Monod, pastor of the French Church at Copenhagen, and, after 1808, in Paris.

Monod, after studying at the College Bonaparte in Paris, went to Geneva, where he graduated in theology in 1824. But he had not yet fully rested upon the great truths of the Gospel of grace. It was on a journey to Italy in 1825 that he experienced the life-changing revelation of divine grace. From that moment he dedicated the rest of his life to serving the Lord by preaching His Word.

He became founder, and remained pastor, of the Protestant Church in Naples until 1827. He was then called to Lyons, but his evangelical preaching, and especially a sermon upholding the necessity of a Christian faith and life to partake of the communion, aroused such opposition, that he was deposed by the Catholic minister of education, before whom he was accused by the consistory. Monod did not forsake Lyons, but began preaching in a hall, then went to a chapel, and laboured so effectually, that the results of these labours established a large church and several chapels.

In 1836 he was called to a professorship in the theological seminary of Montauban, and continued to labour there for eleven years, spending his vacations preaching to large audiences in the churches of Southern France. At the end of this period, he was called as pastor to Paris, where for nine years he preached to large congregations in the Oratoire.

Adolphe Monod was not just an outstanding preacher but noted for the piety of his Christian life. His humility was apparent to all. His conscientiousness was sometimes almost painfully exact. He was, moreover, a man of constant prayer.  He was prone to melancholy on occasions. This revealed to him the Lord’s grace in his weakness. His theology was drawn from the Bible, of which he was a dedicated student, and which he read daily in the original languages. From the moment that Christ called him,  he devoted his whole heart and soul and mind to his Master’s service.

As a preacher, Monod's aim was to save men from going to hell and call them to seek Jesus Christ for their salvation. His sermons were thoroughly Biblical, and by the full exposition of the texts, and by the conviction of what he was preaching, he called the hearts of many to turn to the Lord as their Saviour. He was gifted with a full and clear melodious voice, but it was by the power of the Holy Spirit that made him such an effective preacher for the Lord.

It was when, at 54, he was diagnosed with a fatal illness and virtually bedridden with only months to live that the Lord still used him to continue witnessing to the faith. He was in much pain but every Sunday afternoon he gathered his friends about him to take the Lord's supper at his bedside, and, after listening to the reading of Scripture, he preached short homilies of great power which his friends wrote down. After his death those exhortations, full of light and truth, were published as “Adieux d'Adolphe Monod a ses amis et a l'Eglise,” and soon published in English as “Adolphe Monod’s Farewell to his Friends and the Church.”

ADOLPHE MONOD’S

 FAREWELL TO HIS FRIENDS

 AND TO THE CHURCH.

Translated from the French.

NEW YORK: ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS,

No. 580 BROADWAY.

 1858.

PDF BOOK (1.4mb) Adolphe Monod's "Farewell to His Friends and to His Church." 

PREFACE  pdf
1. Everything in the Scriptures is Perfect, pdf
2. Happy in Life and in Death. pdf
3. Frequent Communion, pdf
4. The Pastor Suffering for the Good of the Church. pdf
5. A Few Words on the Reading of the Bible. pdf
6. God is Glorified in Affliction, pdf
7. The Love of God Manifested in His Children, pdf
8. Faith, pdf
9. Jesus Christ our Example in Suffering, pdf
10. Sin, pdf
11. The Cross Revealing to Us the Love of God, pdf
12. Of Things Not Seen, pdf
13. The Man of Sorrows and Men of Sorrow, pdf
14. A Dying Man's Regrets.—1. The Secret of a Holy, Active, and Peaceful Life. pdf
15. A Dying Man's Regrets.—2. The Study of the Word of God. pdf
16. A Dying Man's Regrets.—3. The Use of Time. pdf
17. A Dying Man's Regrets.—4. Prayer. pdf
18. A Dying Man's Regrets.—5. Solicitude About Trifling Interests. pdf
19. Jesus Christ, pdf
20. The Scriptures, pdf
21. The Holy Spirit, pdf
22. All in Jesus Christ, pdf
23. The Trinity, pdf
24. The Resurrection, pdf
25. God is Love. pdf