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Phillips Brooks
Phillips Brooks (1835–1893) was an American preacher, Episcopal priest, and hymn-writer whose eloquent ministry and towering presence made him one of the most celebrated clerics of 19th-century America. Born on December 13, 1835, in Boston, Massachusetts, he was the second of six children of William Gray Brooks, a merchant, and Mary Ann Phillips, both from prominent New England families with Puritan roots. Raised in a devout household where daily Scripture reading shaped his faith, Brooks graduated from Harvard College in 1855 with a degree in Classics. After a brief stint teaching at Boston Latin School, he pursued ministry, studying at Virginia Theological Seminary and graduating in 1859. He never married, dedicating his life to his calling and intellectual pursuits. Brooks’s preaching career began with his ordination in 1859 and his first pastorate at the Church of the Advent in Philadelphia, followed by Holy Trinity Church in the same city from 1862 to 1869, where his sermons—delivered at a rapid 200 words per minute—drew massive crowds and earned him national acclaim during the Civil War era. In 1869, he became rector of Trinity Church in Boston, overseeing its relocation to Copley Square and consecrating its iconic building in 1877, a pulpit he held until 1891. Known for his warmth, intellectual depth, and ability to connect with diverse audiences, Brooks authored the beloved Christmas hymn “O Little Town of Bethlehem” in 1868. Elected Bishop of Massachusetts in 1891, he served briefly until his sudden death from diphtheria on January 23, 1893, at age 57, leaving a legacy as a preacher whose lyrical sermons and hymns, preserved in works like Sermons (1878), continue to inspire. He was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, mourned by thousands who filled Boston’s streets for his funeral.
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Phillips Brooks preaches about the importance of faithfulness in using our talents, emphasizing that the world will be enriched not just by the extraordinary achievements of a few gifted individuals, but by the consistent faithfulness of ordinary people in their daily tasks. He highlights the idea that common tasks are often the hardest, yet they hold the power to bring about significant change and transformation. Brooks encourages his listeners to see the dignity and importance in their seemingly mundane lives, as their faithfulness in small things can have a profound impact on the world.
The Faithfulness of the Common Man
"And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth…" (Matt. 25:25). It seems very certain that the world is to grow better and richer in the future, however it has been in the past, not by the magnificent achievements of the highly-gifted few, but by the patient faithfulness of the one-talented many. If we could draw back the curtains of the millennium and look in, we should see not a Hercules here and there standing on the world-wasting monsters he had killed, but a world full of men, each with an arm of moderate muscle, but each triumphant over his own little piece of the obstinacy of earth or the ferocity of the brutes. It seems as if the heroes had done almost all for the world that they can do, and not much more can come till common men awake and take their common tasks. I do believe the common man's task is the hardest. The hero has the hero's aspiration that lifts him to his labour. All great duties are easier than the little ones, though they cost far more blood and agony. That is a truth we all find out. And this is part of the reason why we make allowance for our poor friend in the parable. But if we look at it in a higher way, surely we may come to feel that the very certainty that the world must be saved by the faithfulness of commonplace people is what is needed to rescue such people from commonplaceness in their own eyes, and clothe their lives with the dignity which they seem so woefully to lack, and which, if any man does not see somewhere shining through the rusty texture of his life, he cannot life it well.
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Phillips Brooks (1835–1893) was an American preacher, Episcopal priest, and hymn-writer whose eloquent ministry and towering presence made him one of the most celebrated clerics of 19th-century America. Born on December 13, 1835, in Boston, Massachusetts, he was the second of six children of William Gray Brooks, a merchant, and Mary Ann Phillips, both from prominent New England families with Puritan roots. Raised in a devout household where daily Scripture reading shaped his faith, Brooks graduated from Harvard College in 1855 with a degree in Classics. After a brief stint teaching at Boston Latin School, he pursued ministry, studying at Virginia Theological Seminary and graduating in 1859. He never married, dedicating his life to his calling and intellectual pursuits. Brooks’s preaching career began with his ordination in 1859 and his first pastorate at the Church of the Advent in Philadelphia, followed by Holy Trinity Church in the same city from 1862 to 1869, where his sermons—delivered at a rapid 200 words per minute—drew massive crowds and earned him national acclaim during the Civil War era. In 1869, he became rector of Trinity Church in Boston, overseeing its relocation to Copley Square and consecrating its iconic building in 1877, a pulpit he held until 1891. Known for his warmth, intellectual depth, and ability to connect with diverse audiences, Brooks authored the beloved Christmas hymn “O Little Town of Bethlehem” in 1868. Elected Bishop of Massachusetts in 1891, he served briefly until his sudden death from diphtheria on January 23, 1893, at age 57, leaving a legacy as a preacher whose lyrical sermons and hymns, preserved in works like Sermons (1878), continue to inspire. He was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, mourned by thousands who filled Boston’s streets for his funeral.