Sermons Upon the Song of Moses
William Romaine's "Sermons Upon the Song of Moses" emerged from his pulpit ministry at St. Dunstan's-in-the-West during the height of the eighteenth-century evangelical revival within the Church of England. These sermons expound Deuteronomy 32, Moses's final prophetic song to Israel before his death, delivering what Romaine saw as essential truths about God's faithfulness and human rebellion that his Anglican congregations needed to hear amid the spiritual coldness of much contemporary preaching.
Romaine approaches Moses's song as a comprehensive theology in miniature, tracing God's electing love, Israel's repeated apostasy, divine judgment, and ultimate restoration. He reads the text through a consistently evangelical lens, finding Christ prefigured throughout and applying the warnings against idolatry to the formal religion of his own day. The sermons emphasize human depravity, the necessity of personal conversion, and assurance through faith alone. Romaine's exposition is notable for its pastoral directness and his willingness to challenge both nominal Christians and those who trusted in moral reformation rather than spiritual regeneration. He treats the song's prophetic elements as patterns that recur throughout redemptive history, making ancient warnings immediately relevant to eighteenth-century hearers.
These sermons represent Romaine's mature biblical exposition and his contribution to the evangelical awakening within Anglicanism alongside contemporaries like George Whitefield and John Newton. They demonstrate how evangelical Anglicans used rigorous textual preaching to challenge prevailing theological trends while remaining within established church structures. The work has continued to influence Reformed and evangelical preaching, particularly in its integration of systematic theology with pastoral application.
Who should read this: Preachers and students of homiletics interested in eighteenth-century evangelical exposition, and those studying the development of Anglican evangelicalism. Readers seeking devotional material may find Romaine's theological density and polemical edge challenging.