"Oh, cross of preaching the cross!" What a strange declaration from the man who was widely regarded as the foremost preacher in nineteenth-century France and Switzerland. Adolphe Monod was a man with a shepherd's heart who longed to be able to spend more time on the pastoral side of his ministry, yet he regarded preaching as a sacred obligation that required his very best effort and preparation. Perhaps this same shepherd's heart--a deep concern for the souls of his hearers--helped make his preaching so effective. It is certainly an important element in Les Adieux, which has endured for nearly 150 years as a classic of French evangelical literature. (Excerpt from the preface to the retitled English translation: Living in the Hope of Glory, Constance K. Walker, editor and translator.)
Pastor Monod died of liver cancer while only in his mid-fifties on April 6, 1856 in Paris. He ministered from a sickbed during the final six months of his earthly life. Les Adieux ("Farewells"), originally published in 1856, is a collection of his richly theological, yet practical brief messages to his friends and congregation during this period of intense suffering.