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W.J. Erdman
William Jacob Erdman (February 21, 1834 – January 27, 1923) was an American preacher, Presbyterian minister, and author whose leadership in the premillennialist and holiness movements of the late 19th century bridged evangelical fervor with scholarly exposition. Born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, to John Erdman and Sarah Wunderly, he grew up in a German Reformed family before moving with his parents to western New York at age 11. Converted at 16 during an 1850 revival meeting in Rochester, New York, he graduated from Hamilton College in 1856 with a B.A., then studied at Union Theological Seminary in New York City (1856–1858), where he was ordained in 1860 by the Presbytery of Buffalo. Marrying Henrietta Rosenbury in 1860, he had six children, including Charles Rosenbury Erdman, a future Princeton theologian. Erdman’s preaching career began at Jefferson Presbyterian Church in Jefferson, New York (1860–1864), followed by pastorates in Jamestown, New York (1864–1870), and Dwight L. Moody’s Chicago Avenue Church in Chicago (1870–1874). Known for his clear, earnest sermons, he became a key figure in the Niagara Bible Conference (1876–1897), advocating premillennialism—the belief in Christ’s imminent return before a literal thousand-year reign. From 1875 to 1880, he served as superintendent of the New York Presbytery’s Home Mission, planting churches across the state, then pastored Second Presbyterian Church in Germantown, Pennsylvania (1880–1890), growing its congregation significantly. After retiring from regular ministry in 1890, he devoted himself to writing and itinerant preaching, speaking at holiness conventions like Keswick until 1900.
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In this sermon by W.J. Erdman, the Preacher reflects on the futility and emptiness of pursuing worldly riches, honor, and pleasures, ultimately finding them to be vanity and a chasing after the wind. Despite seeking fulfillment in material success and longevity, he concludes that true satisfaction cannot be found in earthly pursuits alone. The Preacher acknowledges the limitations of human wisdom and the insatiable nature of human desires, leading to a sense of hopelessness and despair in the face of life's mysteries and uncertainties.
The Great Contradiction and Failure. 6:1-12
What now follows would confirm this; for out of this serene, self-satisfied mood, from this supposedly final answer as to u the Good he is startled by a sore and common evil among men, which, he says, he has often seen; and this contradiction confounds his Conclusion; even this: there are rich and honorable men, from whom God has withheld the power of enjoyment, and they go dyspeptics all their days. Where, now, is "the Good?" And " the Good " the Preacher would commend to all men? "This is vanity, and it is an evil disease." Having begun his descent from the high and sunny slopes of a life of natural piety and social enjoyment, he, at sight of still another most vexatious " vanity and striving after wind," sinks at last into the deepest melancholy; even this — to be rich and honored and blessed with a hundred sons and live two thousand years! and yet have the " soul not filled with good," even " the good " he fondly once claimed he had found, and more than all, have at last no pompous funeral and monumental marble, why! it is better never to have been. From such extravagant mouthings and extraordinary fancies he subsides into disconnected mutterings of former sayings, how " all go to one place; " how " all labor of man is for his mouth and yet the appetite is not filled;" how " the wise has no advantage over the fool;" and how the poor man with something to eat in sight, the result of honest labor, is better off than the ever-discontented, unsatisfied rich man, whose " desire " is wandering to the ends of the earth in vain for something new and better, always seeking an ever-receding good; wherefore " all is vanity and a striving after wind." And then the Preacher, glancing back over all the way by which he has come, height and depth, sums up all these experiences under the sun to be truly those of the natural man, of the race of Adam: " Whatsoever hath been, the name thereof was given long ago; and it is known that it is Adam; " but in view of the unalterable fateful purpose of God, he adds, it is an Adam, weak, ignorant and wholly unable to cope with Him that is mightier than man. He confesses now to an utter nonplus and failure of natural wisdom; he knows not what is " the good " for man — this unwise weakling —, in all the days of his shadow-life of numberless vanities. Before the mystery and riddle of existence, he is dumb, and sits on the ground clothed in the ashes and sackcloth of hopeless melancholy.
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William Jacob Erdman (February 21, 1834 – January 27, 1923) was an American preacher, Presbyterian minister, and author whose leadership in the premillennialist and holiness movements of the late 19th century bridged evangelical fervor with scholarly exposition. Born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, to John Erdman and Sarah Wunderly, he grew up in a German Reformed family before moving with his parents to western New York at age 11. Converted at 16 during an 1850 revival meeting in Rochester, New York, he graduated from Hamilton College in 1856 with a B.A., then studied at Union Theological Seminary in New York City (1856–1858), where he was ordained in 1860 by the Presbytery of Buffalo. Marrying Henrietta Rosenbury in 1860, he had six children, including Charles Rosenbury Erdman, a future Princeton theologian. Erdman’s preaching career began at Jefferson Presbyterian Church in Jefferson, New York (1860–1864), followed by pastorates in Jamestown, New York (1864–1870), and Dwight L. Moody’s Chicago Avenue Church in Chicago (1870–1874). Known for his clear, earnest sermons, he became a key figure in the Niagara Bible Conference (1876–1897), advocating premillennialism—the belief in Christ’s imminent return before a literal thousand-year reign. From 1875 to 1880, he served as superintendent of the New York Presbytery’s Home Mission, planting churches across the state, then pastored Second Presbyterian Church in Germantown, Pennsylvania (1880–1890), growing its congregation significantly. After retiring from regular ministry in 1890, he devoted himself to writing and itinerant preaching, speaking at holiness conventions like Keswick until 1900.