By Adolphe Monod
“When in September 1855, Adolphe Monod was overtaken by a fatal illness it seemed that the earthly ministry of the foremost preacher in France had come to an end. His voice would no more rouse the thronged congregation in the Oratoire, Paris, as it had done for nine years past, and soon his life would no more be the “lighthouse,” as a contemporary described him, “to whom everyone looked as the sailor in the storm.” Thus suddenly reduced to the pain of a sick-bed at the age of fifty-three, Monod had but one concern: “O my God,” he prayed, is my work finished? Thou only knowest … I should so much have wished to leave behind me some lasting monument for Thy glory.”
His prayer was answered, yet not in the way that he might have imagined. God did not restore him to his former work but brought him to exercise a new ministry – the ministry of suffering and patience which occasioned the contents of this book, (Adolphe Monod's Farewell.) As long as evangelical literature is read, Adolphe Monod's Farewell with be remembered as the most enduring monument that he left to the glory of God.”
NOTE – The above article is taken from the introduction to the Banner of Truth edition of “Adolphe Monod's Farewell.”