Discourses on the Kingdom and Reign of ChristDelivered in the Chapel of the Wesleyan Theological Institution at Didsbury

Pope had taken the late John Hannah’s chair as tutor at Didsbury College in 1867; this book was published 1869. 21 chapters, 395pp. In 1880, Pope published a “Third and Enlarged Edition” of these sermons under a new title, Discourses: Chiefly on the Lordship of the Incarnate Redeemer. There are some minor changes, and two new chapters in that third edition.

1. The Prophecies at the Incarnation (Luke 1:32)
2. The Temptation in the Wilderness (Matt 4:1)
3. The First Promise (John 1:50-51)
4. The Transfiguration (Matt 17:5)
5. The Sign of the Feetwashing (John 13:13-15)
6. The Hour of Redemption (John 12:23)
7. The Perfect Obedience (Luke 2:49, John 4:34, 9:4, 17:4)
8. The Lord of the Dead and the Living (Rom 14:7-9)
9. The Resurrection-Testimony (Acts 13:32-34)
10. The Assumption (Matt 28:16-18)
11. The Witness of the Word and of the Spirit (Acts 5:32)
12. Christ Not Ashamed of His Brethren (Heb 2:2)
13. Not Unto the World (John 14:22,23, 14)
14. The Mediator in His Church (Matt 18:20)
15. Glorying in the Lord (I Cor 1:29, 30, 31)
16. The Great Confession (Matt 16:15-18)
17. The Service of Friendship (John 15:15)
18. The Lord’s Supper (I Cor 11:26)
19. All Things Are Yours (I Cor 3:21-23)
20. The Dawn of the Great Day (Rom 13:11-12)
21. The New Song (Rev 5:9)

A contemporary review of the volume in the Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine (March 1869, 261-262) says “we cordially welcome this volume, as containing the mature thoughts of a mind of no ordinary power.” It notes that “readers of this Magazine are familiar with the peculiarities of Mr. Pope’s treatment of sacred subjects, and with the concentrated energy of his style –an energy softened, at times, by touches of exquisite beauty. He presents combinations of thought which would not readily occur even to those who have made theology their study; and enters with profound reverence into the facts, and relations, and issues, of the mediatorial scheme.” The (unsigned) review includes this observation about Pope’s style: “In a few instances, Mr. Pope’s meaning is rather obscure; and we could have wished that, for the sake of ordinary readers, he had expanded his statements, and preferred perspicuity to condensation. But careful thought will always succeed in eliciting his views.” It is interesting to see the Pope’s own contemporaries found him sometimes hard to understand. The occasional obscurity we find in reading him is not the result of reading from 150 years away; it was always there.