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Joseph Parker
Joseph Parker (1830–1902) was an English preacher and Congregational minister whose dynamic oratory and innovative preaching made him one of the most celebrated pulpit figures of the Victorian era. Born on April 9, 1830, in Hexham, Northumberland, he was the only child of Teasdale Parker, a stonemason and Congregational deacon, and Elizabeth Dodd. With limited formal education, he taught himself Latin, Greek, and theology, beginning his ministry as a Methodist local preacher and temperance advocate in his teens during the revolutionary 1840s. Influenced by radicals like Thomas Cooper and Edward Miall, he married Ann Nesbitt in 1851, a union that lasted until her death in 1863, after which he wed Emma Jane Common in 1864. Ordained in 1853, he served at Banbury until 1858, then at Cavendish Chapel in Manchester until 1869, growing both congregations significantly. Parker’s preaching career peaked in London, where he ministered at Poultry Chapel from 1869 and oversaw the construction of the City Temple in Holborn Viaduct, opened in 1874, costing £70,000. His extemporaneous sermons—delivered with theatrical flair and a command of vigorous English—drew thousands, including notables like William Gladstone, and were marked by personal meditations rather than systematic theology, distinguishing him from contemporaries like Charles Spurgeon. He launched the Thursday noon service in 1872, reaching his 1,000th by 1892, and authored over 60 works, including The People’s Bible (1885–1895), a 25-volume expository series. Twice chairman of the Congregational Union of England and Wales, Parker died on November 28, 1902, in Hampstead, leaving a legacy as a preacher whose originality and personality captivated a generation, though his influence waned posthumously.
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Joseph Parker preaches about the supreme consciousness of Jesus Christ, highlighting His humility and servanthood as an example for us to follow. He emphasizes the contrast between the desire for greatness in human consciousness and the humility displayed by Jesus in washing His disciples' feet, despite knowing His divine authority and power.
What to Do
"For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you" (John 13:15). What will he do in the moment of supreme consciousness? He will show his diadem now; with his right hand he will take away the cloud which veiled it, and the shining of that diadem shall put out the sun. What will he do in this summer time? We have analogous times in our own consciousness, when we feel what we are, when the divinity stirs within us, when we feel the blood of a hundred kings burning in our veins. What is our wish under the pressure of such heroic and tempting consciousness? Surely to do some great thing; surely to vindicate our right to be called by brilliant names. What did Jesus Christ do? Mark the time: the whole pith of this part of the discourse is in the point of time--"Jesus knowing"--in modern words, the consciousness of Jesus urged to its highest point, realising its utmost sensitiveness, receiving into itself the full revelation of the divine meaning. "Jesus knowing"--that his right hand was full, and his left hand--yea, "that the Father had given all things into his hands"--what did he do? He arose from supper, he laid aside his garments, he took a towel and girded himself, he poured water into a basin, "and began to wash the disciples' feet."
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Joseph Parker (1830–1902) was an English preacher and Congregational minister whose dynamic oratory and innovative preaching made him one of the most celebrated pulpit figures of the Victorian era. Born on April 9, 1830, in Hexham, Northumberland, he was the only child of Teasdale Parker, a stonemason and Congregational deacon, and Elizabeth Dodd. With limited formal education, he taught himself Latin, Greek, and theology, beginning his ministry as a Methodist local preacher and temperance advocate in his teens during the revolutionary 1840s. Influenced by radicals like Thomas Cooper and Edward Miall, he married Ann Nesbitt in 1851, a union that lasted until her death in 1863, after which he wed Emma Jane Common in 1864. Ordained in 1853, he served at Banbury until 1858, then at Cavendish Chapel in Manchester until 1869, growing both congregations significantly. Parker’s preaching career peaked in London, where he ministered at Poultry Chapel from 1869 and oversaw the construction of the City Temple in Holborn Viaduct, opened in 1874, costing £70,000. His extemporaneous sermons—delivered with theatrical flair and a command of vigorous English—drew thousands, including notables like William Gladstone, and were marked by personal meditations rather than systematic theology, distinguishing him from contemporaries like Charles Spurgeon. He launched the Thursday noon service in 1872, reaching his 1,000th by 1892, and authored over 60 works, including The People’s Bible (1885–1895), a 25-volume expository series. Twice chairman of the Congregational Union of England and Wales, Parker died on November 28, 1902, in Hampstead, leaving a legacy as a preacher whose originality and personality captivated a generation, though his influence waned posthumously.