All of the volumes listed below have been printed and/or reprinted in the last ten years. For a similar annotated bibliography of Puritan titles published from the beginning of the resurgence of Puritan literature in 1957 through 1986 write Dr. Joel R. Beeke, 2115 Romence N.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503. Enclose $4 for copying and postage costs.
The following abbreviations are used for the publishers:
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Blue Banner Publications, P.O. Box 141084, Dallas, Texas 75214; (800) 484–9377, Ext. 3727
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The Bunyan Press, 23 Haslingden Close, Harpenden, Herts, England AL5 3EW
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Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh, Scotland; 621 Carlisle, Pennsylvania 17013; (800) 263–8085 Fax 717–249-0604
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Isaac Ambrose (1604–64), Looking Unto Jesus (SPR; 694 pages; $30.00). Isaac Ambrose was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, and ordained in 1626. After serving four congregations in England, he became one of the King’s four preachers in Lancashire. In 1641 he espoused the Presbyterian cause and was among the ejected ministers of 1662. He died two years later.
Ambrose was well-known for his godly life. He spent four weeks each year alone in the woods to search the Scriptures, pray, and meditate upon God and His truth. After a serious illness in the early 1650s, he composed a devotional description of what the Lord had done for his soul under the title, Looking unto Jesus, or the Soul’s Eyeing of Jesus as Carrying on the Great Work of Man’s Salvation (1658). Marked by experimental depth, Looking Unto Jesus soon became a classic of Christ-centered divinity. To read it is to feel that one is standing on holy ground. Ambrose approaches numerous aspects of Christ’s ministry—for example, Jesus’ ministry from eternity and His ministry during His life—from a ninefold perspective: knowing Jesus, considering Jesus, desiring Jesus, hoping in Jesus, believing in Jesus, loving Jesus, joying in Jesus, calling on Jesus, and conforming to Jesus in that particular aspect of His ministry.
Anthology of Presbyterian and Reformed Literature, Volume Five, edited by Christopher Coldwell (NP; 328 pages; $27.99). This volume includes the following Puritan works, as well as other writings, in an attractive, two-column, large print format: Samuel Hudson (d. 1683), The Doctrine of the Catholic Church Visible; Samuel Rutherford (1600–1661), The Last and Heavenly Speeches of John Viscount Kenmure; D. James Fisher (1697–1775), Fisher’s Catechism on the Fourth Commandment; David Dickson (d. 1662), Sermons Preached at a Communion in Irvine. A wonderful collection of material difficult to obtain elsewhere. (Volumes 1 through 4 of this series are still available also.)
Robert Asty (1642–82), A Treatise of Rejoicing in the Lord Jesus in All Cases and Conditions (PBH; 187 pages; $11.95 p). Asty was a schoolteacher for ten years prior to entering the ministry in 1674. He served the congregation of Norwich, England, for eight years before his sudden death from smallpox.
Expounding Habakkuk 3:17–18, Asty probes deeply into the soul in uncovering causes for darkness and discouragement in the lives of God’s people, and provides wise counsel on where and how relief can be found in Christ as the believer’s portion, hope, and interest. Directions abound for waiting on Christ and being assured of a personal, saving interest in Him. Eminently practical.
William Bates (1625–99), The Complete Works of William Bates (4 volumes; SPR; 2103 pages; $100.00). William Bates, pastor of a dissenting congregation at Hackney for the last thirty-five years of his life, was one of the most popular and esteemed preachers and writers among the Nonconformists. He was a master of the Puritan “plain style” of preaching. His stress on practical piety in preaching earned him the name of the “silver-tongued.”
Bates’s most frequently reprinted work is The Harmony of the Attributes of God (1674), but some have considered his greatest work to be The Four Last Things (1691)—i.e., death, judgment, heaven, and hell. Other major publications include The Select Lives of Illustrious and Pious Persons; Discourses on the Existence of God; The Immortality of the Soul; The Great Duty of Resignation; The Danger of Prosperity; Sermons on the Forgiveness of Sins; The Sure Trial of Uprightness. Includes numerous sermons and several additional treatises on practical Christian living.
Hugh Binning (1627–53), The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning (SDG; 690 pages; $45.00). Binning entered the University of Glasgow at the age of thirteen and became a professor of philosophy there at the age of nineteen. While serving in the philosophy chair for three years, he studied theology. He was then ordained into the ministry in 1650 and pastored a parish in Govan, Scotland, for three years. Of his preaching, the renowned James Durham said, “There was no speaking after Binning.” He died from tuberculosis at the age of twenty-six.
Binning was a God-fearing scholar in the true sense of the word. Known for his piety, he preached pastorally and to the conscience. This volume of his works includes 133 sermons as follows: (1) The Common Principles of the Christian Religion, a series of twenty-five sermons on God and His glory, the attributes of God, the Trinity, the decrees and Predestination, creation, providence, the covenant of works, sin, and the way of deliverance; (2) The Sinner’s Sanctuary, a series of forty sermons on Romans 8:1–15; (3) Fellowship with God, a series of twenty-eight sermons on 1 John 1:1–2:3; (4) Forty additional, miscellaneous sermons. Two small treatises are also included: An Useful Case of Conscience and A Treatise of Christian Love.
Robert Bolton (1572–1631), The Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Hell, Heaven (SDG; 144 pages; $18.95). Bolton was educated at Oxford, but was not converted until later under the preaching of a certain Thomas Peacock. He was ordained into the ministry at the age of thirty-eight at Broughton where he remained until his death in 1631.
This short, solemn book contains the last sermons this noble Puritan preached prior to his death. Bolton gives practical counsel on preparing for death, then addresses death itself, the impending judgment, and the final destiny of souls in either hell or heaven. Appendixed is his scarce work, “Helps to Humiliation.”
Thomas Boston (1676–1732), Commentary on the Shorter Catechism (2 volumes; SWR; 1350 pages; $79.95). Thomas Boston was an influential Scottish minister and leader in the Marrow Controversy. Educated at Edinburgh, he was ordained in Simprin in 1699. In 1707 he accepted the call to Ettrick where his ministry seemingly bore no fruit for nearly ten years and then was abundantly blessed from 1716 until his death in 1732. During the last sixteen years of his Ettrick pastorate the number of communicants in his congregation rose from sixty to 777. Boston was also known as a first-class Hebraist and theologian, as well as the one responsible for the reprinting of The Marrow of Modern Divinity, which contained extracts from the Reformers and an exposition of the Ten Commandments in terms unacceptable to the legalism of the ruling moderate party in the Church of Scotland.
This reprint consists of ninety sermons expounding the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Filled with savory meat—biblically, doctrinally, experientially, practically. Boston at his best. Some chapters are unparalleled; for example, read those on “The Divine Call to Leave the Devil’s Family,” “The Benefits Flowing from Justification, Adoption, and Sanctification,” “The Duty of Ruling Elders and People,” “The Danger of Not Complying with the Gospel Call,” and “The Right Improvement of a Time of Sickness and Mortality.” Boston fearlessly preached the depths of man’s depravity, the gracious sovereignty of God, the full responsibility of man, and the unconditional offer of grace.
Thomas Boston, A View of the Covenant of Grace (FCM; 232 pages; $15.00 p). This work, which deserves to be a classic on the covenant of grace, is a series of sermons preached over a two-year period on Psalm 89:3 and 1 Corinthians 15:45. Boston was led to preach and write on the covenant of grace after reading Herman Witsius’s Economy of the Covenants. He divided his subject into the following heads: the parties to the covenant; the making of the covenant of grace; the parts of the covenant; the administration of the covenant; the trial of a saving, personal “inbeing” in the covenant; and the way of “instating” sinners, personally and savingly, in the covenant.
Thomas Brooks (1608–80), Smooth Stones Taken From Ancient Brooks, compiled by Charles Spurgeon. (SDG; 272 pages; $22.95). A book of quotations compiled by Charles Spurgeon taken from the writings and sermons of Thomas Brooks. In his preface, Spurgeon wrote: “As a writer, Brooks scatters stars with both his hands. He has dust of gold: in his storehouse are all manner of precious stones. Genius is always marvelous, but when sanctified it is matchless.” Here is one stone from Thomas Brooks: “There is no such way to attain to greater measures of grace than for a man to live up to that little grace he has.” A spiritual and attractive volume, its only flaw is that the sayings of Brooks are not divided into subjects for handy reference, making this more of a devotional than a reference tool. Perhaps a second printing could include an index of subjects.
John Bunyan (1628–88), The Works of John Bunyan (3 volumes; BTT; 2000+ pages; $116.95 per set). This set of Bunyan’s Works, reprinted from the 1854 edition edited by George Offor and published by W. G. Blackie, is a veritable treasure. Contains valuable introductions and is prefaced with an eighty-page memoir of Bunyan’s life and times. Volumes 1 and 2 contain Bunyan’s experimental, doctrinal, and practical treatises; volume 3, his allegorical, figurative, and symbolical works. In all, well over two thousand pages of edifying reading in a two-column format, containing fifty-five treatises. A compendious index concludes volume 3.
Bunyan has always been one of the most popular of the Puritans—no doubt because, while possessing the Word-centeredness as well as the depth of doctrine and experience of other Puritans, he also possessed a warm simplicity of style. He is most renowned for his Pilgrim’s Progress and Holy War, and his autobiographical Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, but many of his other treatises should also be read—particularly those which reveal his pastoral heart in the context of a clear exposition of the Word of God and sound doctrine. A few of the most valuable of these treatises include: The Jerusalem Sinner Saved, The Work of Jesus Christ as an Advocate, Justification by an Imputed Righteousness, Light for Them that Sit in Darkness, The Fear of God, The Strait Gate, The Doctrine of Law and Grace Unfolded, Prayer, The Saints’ Knowledge of Christ’s Love, An Exhortation to Peace and Unity, and Reprobation Asserted.
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress (BP; 150 pages; $27.50). A handsome, coffee-table volume, containing the text of Pilgrim’s Progress together with a beautiful collection of more than seventy oil paintings by Albert Wessels displayed on odd numbered pages. Excellent for assisting children to grasp the classic story of Christian through the illustrations.
John Bunyan, Christiana’s Journey, Or, The Pilgrim’s Progress, The Second Part (BP; 150 pages; $27.50). Contains the text of Christiana’s Journey and seventy-three beautiful full-page oil paintings by Albert Wessels. Engaging for children. Why not tell your young children the story yourself from the illustrations? Matching volume to The Pilgrim’s Progress listed above. These two volumes must be seen to be appreciated; beautifully printed.
John Bunyan, Prayer (BT; 176 pages; $6.95 p). Combines two short Bunyan treatises. Praying in the Spirit, written in Bedford’s jail, expounds what Bunyan calls “the very heart of prayer.” This work is filled with memorable sayings, such as, “Better let thy prayers be without words, than thy words without heart.” In The Throne of Grace, Bunyan explains how to approach God in prayer, and provides an experiential exposition of the blessings God’s people receive from the high priestly ministration of Christ.
Jeremiah Burroughs (1599–1646), The Evil of Evils, or The Exceeding Sinfulness of Sin (SDG; 345 pages; $22.95). Burroughs was a prolific author and a faithful pastor (for several years a colleague of Edmund Calamy) and notable member of the Westminster Assembly in its early stages. In recent years, Soli Deo Gloria has brought nine treatises of Burroughs back into print (all in hardback), seven of which have been freshly typeset in very readable print. One of these, Commentary on the Prophecy of Hosea, is already out of print. Most are first-time reprints.
The Evil of Evils consists of sixty-seven short chapters, exposing sin for what it is; it aims to move believers to seek grace to choose affliction over sin. Burroughs develops his material around seven major thoughts: (1) there is more evil in the least sin than in the greatest affliction; (2) sin and God are contrary to each other; (3) sin is directly against our good; (4) sin opposes all that is good; (5) sin is the poison or evil of all other evils; (6) sin bears an infinite dimension and character; (7) sin makes us comfortable with the devil. Invaluable for probing our souls and sensitizing our consciences to the dread sinfulness of sin.
Jeremiah Burroughs, The Excellency of a Gracious Spirit (SDG; 260 pages; $24.95). Based on Numbers 14:24 (“Caleb was of another spirit; he followed God fully”), this book is divided into two parts: (1) what this other spirit is—namely, a gracious spirit; and (2) what it means to follow God fully.
Jeremiah Burroughs, Gospel Conversation (SDG; 310 pages; $24.95). Deals with the conduct of believers. Includes seven sermons on Philippians 1:27, three on John 18:36, and an appendixed sermon on Exodus 14:13.
Jeremiah Burroughs, Gospel Fear (SDG; 166 pages; $16.95). Contains seven sermons—three on Isaiah 66:2 (“He that trembleth at my Word”) and four on 2 Kings 22:19 (“Because thine heart was tender”). The entire volume deals with our need for reverence and awe towards God and His Word. These expositions are sorely needed in our times when God and His holiness are approached far too often in a cavalier manner even by those who regard themselves as Christian.
Jeremiah Burroughs, Gospel Remission (SDG; 310 pages; $26.95). Subtitled True Blessedness Consists in Pardon of Sin, this first-time reprint consists of a series of sermons on Psalm 32:1 which Burroughs preached immediately after finishing his masterpiece on sin, The Evil of Evils. As a tender pastor, Burroughs knew that after hearing of the deadly nature of sin, his congregation would need to hear about the remission of sins offered in the Gospel. With regard to forgiveness, Burroughs thoroughly covers five major areas: (1) the many Gospel mysteries contained in remission; (2) the glorious effects proceeding from remission; (3) the great mistakes made about remission; (4) the true signs and symptoms of remission; and (5) the ways and means to obtain remission.
Jeremiah Burroughs, Gospel Worship (SDG; 400 pages; $24.95). Subtitled The Right Manner of Sanctifying the Name of God in General, this volume deals in fourteen sermons with the believer’s Sanctification through “three great ordinances”: (1) hearing the Word; (2) receiving the Lord’s Supper, and (3) prayer. In a day when man-made forms of worship are promoted, Gospel Worship is a clarion call to biblical and heartfelt worship of the worthy Triune God through the means which He has instituted. We do not need new forms of worship to be relevant, but old forms of worship renewed.
Jeremiah Burroughs, The Saints’ Happiness (SDG; 264 pages; $22.95). A detailed exposition of the Beatitudes in forty-one sermons; two-column, small-print pages. Though in my opinion Burroughs does not match Watson on the Beatitudes, this is still a significant work. (Note: Soli Deo Gloria hopes to print Robert Harris on the Beatitudes as well in the near future, which is superior in exposition to both Burroughs and Watson.)
Jeremiah Burroughs, The Saints’ Treasury (SDG; 175 pages; $15.95). A compilation of five sermons on the following subjects: the holiness of God; Christ as all-in-all; faith’s enjoyment of heavenly things; the natural man’s bondage to the law and the believer’s liberty by the Gospel; and preparation for judgment.
Jeremiah Burroughs, A Treatise of Earthly-Mindedness (SDG; 220 pages; $18.95). A timely reprint for our earthly-minded age. Contains two treatises: the first is a serious warning against the evils of being earthly-minded and an applicatory description on how to “get our hearts free from earthly-mindedness”; the second expounds what it means to be heavenly-minded, with an accent on living godly in Christ Jesus. Several chapters deal with how to foster heavenly conversation and a heavenly walk.
Joseph Caryl (1602–73), Bible Thoughts (SDG; 252 pages; $22.95). Joseph Caryl was a renowned Puritan preacher and chaplain to Parliament, a member of the Westminster Assembly where he showed himself a moderate Independent, and a pastor of St. Magnus, London Bridge, for seventeen years until his ejection in 1662. For the last decade of his life, he served an independent congregation in London. After his death, his flock merged with the congregation being pastored by John Owen.
Caryl is best known today for preaching more than five hundred lecture-sermons on the book of Job over a period of twenty-four years. These sermons were published over a sixteen-year period (1651–66) in twelve quarto volumes, which consisted of more than eight thousand pages! These volumes have never been reprinted, notwithstanding their being the classic exposition of Job. Bible Thoughts consists of excerpts from this monumental work. Few will be able to find or afford Caryl’s original work on Job, but this nineteenth-century reprint, edited by Rev. Ingram Cobbin, is the best substitute. It opens the door to the deep insights of this renowned Puritan preacher and may be highly recommended.
Thomas Case (1598–1682), The Select Works of Thomas Case (SDG; 432 pages; $26.95). Thomas Case was a Puritan pastor in London and a member of the Westminster Assembly. He began what came to be known as the “The Morning Exercises” in which Puritan sermons were preached at early morning hours. Case’s two major works, A Treatise of Afflictions and A Prospect of Heaven, were reprinted with current spelling in 1836 by the Religious Tract Society in London. Soli Deo Gloria has combined these two volumes into this new volume which is a photolithograph of the 1836 editions, enlarged thirty percent to make the small print of the originals quite readable. A Treatise of Afflictions is based on Psalm 94:12, “Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law.” A Prospect of Heaven expounds 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18, and is subtitled Mount Pisgah; or, Words of Comfort on the Death of our Gracious Relations.
David Clarkson (1622–86), The Works of David Clarkson (3 volumes; BTT; 1400 pages; $79.95). Successor to John Owen, David Clarkson is one of the most practical and readable of the Puritans. This set is a reprint of the 1864–65 edition; it is filled with biblical, practical, and thorough sermons covering a wide variety of topics and always aiming for the heart. Volume 1 contains sermons on such themes as sin and repentance, the work of Christ, the nature of faith, prayer, living as strangers, bearing the cross, and knowing Christ. Volume 2 contains expositions on the depravity, inability and guilt of man, as well as rich expositions on the new creature (Gal. 6:15), on God’s purposes in the afflictions of the believer (Isa. 27:9), and on how to be freed from anxiety. Volume 3 contains several outstanding sermons on the love, humanity, sacrifice, and intercession of Christ, as well as a polemical treatise against Roman Catholicism.
Thomas Cobbet (1608–86), Gospel Incense, or A Practical Treatise on Prayer (SDG; 436 pages; $29.95). An Oxford scholar and pupil of William Twisse, chairman of the Westminster Assembly, Thomas Cobbet was ordained into the ministry in Lincolnshire, England, but was driven from his flock by persecution. He sailed to America on the same ship as John Davenport and pastored in Lyn and Ipswich until his death in 1686.
Cobbet was the least known of the five leading New England Puritan pastors of his day (viz., Thomas Shepard, Thomas Hooker, John Cotton, and Peter Bulkeley), but was highly regarded by all of them. His writings, particularly Gospel Incense which is a masterly and practical treatment of the doctrine and benefits of prayer, should have been reprinted long ago. Subjects dealt with include family prayer, private prayer, importunity in prayer, constancy in prayer, humility and sincerity in prayer, distractions in prayer, the use of means with prayer, time spent in prayer, soul “enlargements” and “meltings” in prayer, how to conceive of God in prayer, etc.
Cobbet himself was renowned for his prayer life. Of this reprint and its author, Cotton Mather writes:
Of all the books written by Mr. Cobbet, none deserves more to be read by the world, or to live till the general burning of the world, than that of prayer; and indeed prayer, the subject so experimentally and, therefore, judiciously, therefore profitably, therein handled, was not the least of those things for which Mr. Cobbet was remarkable. He was a praying man, and his prayers were not more observable throughout New England for the argumentative, the importunate, and, I had almost said, filially familiar strains of them than for the wonderful successes that attended them.Cobbet’s epitath reads: “Stop, traveller! A treasure lies here, Thomas Cobbet: whose effectual prayers and most exemplary life, thou, if thou art a New Englander, must have known. Admire, if you revere piety: follow, if you long for happiness!”
Samual Davies (1723–61), Sermons of the Rev. Samuel Davies (3 volumes; SDG; 1800+ pages; $120.00). Contains eighty-two sermons by this prince of American preachers and successor of Jonathan Edwards as president of Princeton, then known as the College of New Jersey. Reading these sermons, you will feel the fervor that burned in Davies’s heart for the souls of men. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones thought that Davies was the best preacher America has ever received.
Arthur Dent (d. 1607), The Plain Man’s Pathway to Heaven (SDG; 332 pages; $24.95). Arthur Dent studied at Christ’s College, Cambridge, in the 1570s and was ordained as preacher of the Word at South Shoebury, Essex, in 1580 where he served until his death in 1607. On his deathbed he confessed of the Reformed faith, “This faith have I preached; this faith have I believed in; this faith I do die in; and this faith would I have sealed with my blood, if God had so thought good; and tell my brethren so.” His last words were, “I have seen an end of all perfection, but Thy law is exceeding broad.”
The Plain Man’s Pathway to Heaven was one of the most popular Puritan devotional classics ever written. It went through twenty-five editions by 1640, fifty editions by 1860. John Bunyan was personally influenced by Dent’s classic. Like Pilgrim’s Progress, Dent utilizes the pilgrimage motif and a dialogue style. Four characters—Theologus, a pastor; Philagathus, an honest, God-fearing man; Asunetus, an ignorant man; Antilegon, a caviller—discuss a wide range of religious topics which cover six major sections: the misery of man by nature; the corruption of the world; the marks of the children of God; the difficulty of entering into life; the ignorance of the world; the sweet promises of the Gospel, “with the abundant mercies of God to all that repent, believe, and truly turn unto Him.” Individual dialogues address subjects such as Regeneration, pride, adultery, covetousness, contempt of the Gospel, swearing, lying, drunkenness, idleness, oppression, effects of sin, Predestination, hindrances to Salvation, and Christ’s Second Coming. Much is to be learned here about God, sin, and Salvation.
Thomas Doolittle (1630–1707), Love to Christ Necessary to Escape the Curse of His Coming (SDG; 216 pages; $18.95). Born at Kidderminster, Thomas Doolittle was converted as a young man through reading The Saints’ Rest by Richard Baxter. He studied for the ministry at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, and was ordained in 1653 to the pastorate at St. Alphage, London. Upon the passage of the Bartholomew Act, Doolittle aligned himself with the non-conformists and left the Church of England. He set up a boarding school for children in Moorfields and opened a “meeting house” for worship services at Bunhill Fields. When this building proved too small, he erected a larger one on Monkwell Street, where he was assisted by Thomas Vincent. A gifted preacher and writer, Doolittle became one of the best-known Puritans of his day and the last of the ejected ministers of 1662 to die. He served the church of God faithfully until his death at the age of seventy-seven.
Love to Christ is a series of sermons based on 1 Corinthians 16:22, “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.” Doolittle explains persuasively why sinners should hate sin and must love Christ supremely. He provides encouragements to love Christ and unveils the inevitable consequences of not loving Christ. He concludes with ten directions on how to obtain sincere love to Christ, and “ten springs of spiritual comfort flowing into the hearts of the lovers of Christ.” A powerful evangelistic treatise for the unconverted and a heart-warming treatise for the believer.
George Downame (1563?-1634), The Christian’s Freedom (SDG; 144 pages; $15.95). George Downame, brother of John Downame, was born in Ireland and educated at Cambridge where he was appointed professor of logic. In 1603 he became chaplain to King James I. The King appointed him Bishop of Derry in 1616, an office he held until his death in 1634.
Subtitled The Doctrine of Christian Liberty, this reprint is based on John 8:36, “If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.” After expounding the foundational truths of the believer’s spiritual liberty in Christ, Downame identifies the errors of Roman Catholicism regarding the nature and effects of Justification and Sanctification. He argues that the true Christian enjoys a better liberty because he is justified fully and becomes sanctified progressively; nevertheless, he is bound to the law as a rule of life.
James Durham (1622–58), Concerning Scandal (NP; 400 pages; $35.00). James Durham was a leading Scottish Covenanter minister and author, contemporary with David Dickson and Andrew Gray. This work is a classic discussion concerning private offenses and scandals, church discipline, the spreading of scandalous rumors, divisions among churches and how to unite them. Though a bit difficult to read, it is well worth a careful perusal. Durham stresses how far each church member and officebearer should go in serving and loving others to the mutual upbuilding of the body of Christ.
James Durham, Lectures on Job, ed. Christopher Coldwell (NP; 240 pages; $39.95). Covers entire book of Job with practical applications at the end of each chapter. Previously one of the rarest Puritan commentaries to find, having been printed in 1759, a century after the author’s death.
Jonathan Edwards (1703–58), The Freedom of the Will (SDG; 325 pages; $27.95). A graduate of Yale, Jonathan Edwards was ordained as a Congregationalist pastor of the church in Northampton, Massachusetts, where God signally blessed his powerful preaching with two revivals (the first in 1735 and the second in 1740, designated the Great Awakening).
From 1751 to 1758 he ministered in Stockbridge, combining his pastorate with outreach to the Indians. In 1758 he reluctantly accepted the presidency of Princeton, but died from a smallpox injection only some weeks after assuming his duties.
Many scholars believe that Edwards’s Freedom of the Will is the most important theological/philosophical work ever published in America. Touted by even secular analysts as having the greatest philosophical mind ever to grace the American scene, Edwards irrefutably proves that the human will is definitely not free; rather, God must intervene if the sinner is ever to choose good. Though Pelagianism has a death grip on the modern church, books such as this may be blessed to help loosen its hold through sound biblical reasoning and exegesis.
Jonathan Edwards, On Knowing Christ (BT; 280 pages; $8.95 p). Contains ten sermons filled with the Spirit’s work in convicting of sin and in leading believers into an experiential acquaintance with the person and benefits of Christ.
Jonathan Edwards, Selections from the Unpublished Writings of Jonathan Edwards, ed. Alexander Grosart (SDG; 212 pages; $20.95). In 1854 Alexander Grosart, editor of many of the Nichols Series of Puritan reprints, came to America to work with the remaining manuscripts of Jonathan Edwards. Some of this material which had never seen print he issued in 1865 under the above title, but had only three hundred copies printed for private circulation. Now we finally have access to this scarce volume which contains writings that do not appear in Edwards’s two-volume set of Works reprinted by Banner of Truth Trust.
Included in this volume are “A Treatise on Grace,” “Annotations on the Bible,” “Directions for Judging Persons’ Experiences,” and sermons on Matthew 7:14; 2 Timothy 3:16; Romans 6:1; Acts 24:25; and 1 Peter 3:19–20.
Jonathan Edwards, A Jonathan Edwards Reader, ed. by John R. Smith, Harry S. Stout, and Kenneth P. Minkema (Yale; 335 pages; $14.95 p). A new collection of selected compositions by Edwards, which also draws upon previously unpublished works, accompanied with a helpful forty-page preface.
Farewell Sermons (SDG; 465 pages; $26.95). In 1662 more than two thousand Puritan ministers were ejected from their pulpits for refusing to submit to the infamous Act of Uniformity which required usage of the Book of Common Prayer and assent to all the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England. Within two years, two volumes containing thirty-one “farewell sermons” of ejected divines were published. In 1816, eighteen of these sermons were printed by Gale and Fenner in London. This volume is a replica of that edition.
A preface includes brief biographical notices of the eighteen pastors whose farewell sermons are reprinted. These divines include Thomas Manton, Joseph Caryl, William Jenkyn, Thomas Jacomb, William Bates, Thomas Watson, Matthew Mead, Thomas Brooks, Edmund Calamy, etc. This remarkable set of sermons does not consist merely of fond farewells; rather, these sermons are actually firm yet tender pastoral charges to remain true to Scripture at all costs and to endure persecution for Christ’s sake. Two particularly valuable portions are Thomas Watson’s twenty points of “advice for your souls,” and Thomas Brooks’s twenty-seven legacies conjoined with the reasons for his remarkable confidence that the Gospel would not be removed from England despite the terrible darkness they faced.
George Gillespie (1613–49), The Works of George Gillespie (2 vols.; SWR; 650 pages; $59.95). A renowned Scottish Covenanter, Gillespie was the youngest, yet highly influential, commissioner at the Westminster Assembly. His major work, Aaron’s Rod Blossoming (1646), was regarded as a masterpiece in its closely argued dismissal of governmental influence in the church. Other writings of Gillespie include A Dispute Against English Popish Ceremonies, A Treatise of Miscellany Questions, Notes of Debates and Proceedings of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, A Humble Acknowledgement of the Sins of the Ministry of Scotland, One Hundred Eleven Propositions Concerning the Ministry and Government of the Church, and a few miscellaneous sermons and polemical pieces.
An interesting forty-page memoir of Gillespie written by the Scottish historian, William H. Hetherington, prefaces the works. Gillespie died at the age of thirty-five but had accomplished a lifetime of labor. As he lay dying he remarked, “The time that I have had in the exercise of the ministry is but a moment.” “Yes,” replied a friend, “but your moment hath exceeded the grey heads of others.”
George Gillespie, Aaron’s Rod Blossoming (SPR; 276 pages; $18.00). Historically a valuable and influential work dealing with the biblical view of separation of church and state. Served as a classic answer against Erastianism which Gillespie held was a product of Arminianism.
The Godly Family: A Series of Essays on the Duties of Parents and Children, by George Whitefield, Henry Venn, et al. (SDG; 360 pages; $26.95). An outstanding compilation of fifteen essays and sermons from orthodox seventeenth- and eighteenth-century pastors, including several Puritans, on ordering a godly home. The compilation is appropriately divided into four major sections: (1) The Importance of Family Religion; (2) The Duties of Parents; (3) The Duties of Children; and (4) The Eternal Family. Authors include Samuel Davies, George Whitefield, Philip Doddridge, Samuel Worcester, Henry Venn, Arthur Hildersham, Thomas Houston, and Samuel Stennett. Doddridge’s four sermons on how to educate children religiously in the family are particularly helpful. We know of no better volume in print today to promote family worship and godliness in the home.
William Greenhill (1591–1671), An Exposition of Ezekiel (BTT; 860 pages; $44.95). Educated at Oxford, William Greenhill settled in New Shoreham, Sussex, in 1615, and became pastor in 1633 in the parish of Stepney, Middlesex, where he remained until his death in 1671. He was one of the few independent divines at the Westminster Assembly.
Greenhill is most known for his exposition of Ezekiel. One of the foremost Puritan works in Old Testament exposition, this book remains the most helpful and experimental commentary on Ezekiel in English some 350 years after it was first published in five quarto volumes! This is a long awaited reprint of the 1863 Nichol edition.
Thomas Gouge (1605–81), Riches Increased by Giving (SPR; 234 pages; $16.00). Thomas Gouge, son of William Gouge, was educated at King’s College, Cambridge. He served in a London pastorate until the Act of Uniformity when he was ejected for nonconformity. He spent the last twenty years of his life as a layman, devoting himself to acts of benevolence and charity.
Riches Increased by Giving is a small, practical work on the subject of charitable giving. Subtitled “the right use of mammon: being the surest and safest way of thriving,” Gouge’s treatise reveals how God’s promises graciously bless His benevolent children. Prefaced with a brief life of the author and essays of recommendation by such divines as John Owen, Thomas Manton, and William Bates.
Joseph Hall (1574–1656), Contemplations on the Historical Passages of the Old and New Testament (3 volumes; SDG; 1600 pages; $90.00). Joseph Hall, one of the most venerable of the Puritans, was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and became rector at Halsted, where he wrote his renowned Contemplations. Afterwards he served as rector of Waltham. In 1618 he was delegated to the Synod of Dort. In 1627 he was appointed Bishop of Exeter and in 1641 Bishop of Norwich. He retired to Norfalk after facing severe persecution and died at the ripe age of eighty-one.
This three-volume reprint of Hall’s Contemplations is taken from a ten-volume set of his Works published in 1837. Peter Masters writes of this three-volume classic which meditates on the narrative passages of Scripture:
To read Hall is to read the narrative passages of the Bible through the eyes of a delightful saint and veteran Puritan pastor. It is to accompany the great man on a walk through the lanes and byways of all the events in the sacred record, and to hear his reflections, and the responses of his own heart. Seldom did anyone combine such easy prose with so many profound comments.
Ezekiel Hopkins (1633–90), The Works of Ezekiel Hopkins, volume 1 (SDG; 650 pages; $40.00). Ezekiel Hopkins, a pious Calvinist divine educated at Magdalene College (Oxford), served as pastor in London and Exeter before becoming Bishop of Raphoe (1669) and of Londonderry (1681). All of Hopkins’s writings are very readable, clear and persuasive, personal and experimental. The reprinting of his Works (3 volumes) is long overdue. This first volume contains his expositions of the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments.
Thomas Hooker (1586–1647), The Soul’s Preparation for Christ: Or, A Treatise of Contrition, Wherein is discovered How God breaks the heart, and wounds the Soul, in the conversion of a Sinner to Himself (IO; 210 pages; $21.95). Hooker was converted in his upper teens while studying at Cambridge where he lectured until 1618. In 1619 he accepted a pastoral call from Esher in Surrey, England; from there he went to Essex (1626) where his work was very fruitful. Silenced in 1629, Hooker fled to the Netherlands. In 1633 he sailed for America and became pastor of the first church of Newtown (now Cambridge). Subsequent trouble caused him to settle in the Connecticut Valley, where he and a majority of the Newtown church founded the town of Hartford, Connecticut, in 1636. Hooker remained a notable leader in New England religious and governmental affairs until his death in 1647. On his deathbed, when told by a friend that he was going to heaven to receive the reward for his extensive labors, he replied, “No, I am going to receive mercy.”
Hooker stressed throughout his numerous writings the application of Salvation. The Soul’s Preparation details how God breaks the heart of a sinner and convicts him of sin in drawing him to faith in Christ. Freshly typeset and reprinted from the 1640 edition.
James Janeway (1636–74), The Saints’ Encouragement to Diligence in Christ’s Service (with Motives to Christian Activity) (SDG; 140 pages; $15.95). James Janeway, graduate from Christ Church, Oxford, was a popular nonconformist preacher who died in his thirty-eighth year from tuberculosis. His last years spent as preacher at Rotherhithe were his most fruitful and most difficult. Soldiers tore down his church building; twice he escaped attempted arrests for preaching; once a bullet shot at him passed through his hat.
The Saints’ Encouragement to Diligence is a treatise on 2 Peter 1:11, encouraging the believer not to grow weary in pursuing good, but to be diligent in the service of Christ. Practical persuasives and applications abound. “Time is short,” writes Janeway. “Our work, our Master, our wages are great, and, not to mince the matter, we have yet done little. Instead of creeping, let us run; instead of sleeping and dreaming, let us awake and work diligently.”
Appendixed to the work are some deathbed experiences of a godly woman aimed to confirm the book’s theme of persevering in Christian diligence.
James Janeway (1636–74) and Cotton Mather (1663–1729), A Token for Children (SDG; 176 pages; $19.95). This volume contains two important reprints. In the seventeenth century, James Janeway compiled numerous accounts of the conversions of young children and their testimonies prior to their early deaths, and called it A Token for Children. Next to the Scriptures and Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, this was the most widely read book for children in the seventeenth century.
Cotton Mather, a late Puritan/American pastor, wrote his own account of New England children converted by God, and called it A Token for the Children of New England. Combined under one cover, these titles effectively show how Puritan parents evangelized their children in the home.
John Gerstner says in his foreword to this book,
If we contemporary “Christians” want to know what Christian experience is, we can do no better than to let these little children of centuries ago teach us. Every modern Christian parent ought to buy and study this book before making it required reading for all his/her offspring.
Jus Divinum Regiminis Ecclesiastici or The Divine Right of Church-Government, ed. David W. Hall (NP; 285 pages; $19.95 p). Subtitled Originally asserted by the Ministers of Sion College, London, December 1646. A classic Puritan work on church government anonymously written to promote a presbyterian view of church government in the midst of the Erastian vs. Presbyterian debate within the Westminster Assembly.
Christopher Love (1618–51), The Works of Christopher Love, Volume 1 (SDG; 700 pages; $40.00). J.I. Packer writes,
Christopher Love was a brilliant young Welsh preacher and a rising star in the world of Puritan ministry. But in 1651, a nervous English government beheaded him [at the age of thirty-three] on a charge of treason for involvement in a plan to raise money that might advance the restoring of the monarchy.
Love was a close friend of Thomas Manton, admired by Richard Baxter, and both read and respected by Jonathan Edwards. He was one of the youngest members of the Westminster Assembly. (For additional biographical material on Love, see Don Kistler’s A Spectacle Unto God under secondary sources below.)
Volume 1 of Love’s Works contains three sets of sermons by this unjustly neglected author: “The Combat between the Flesh and the Spirit” (twenty-seven sermons on Galatians 5:17); “Heaven’s Glory” (ten sermons on Colossians 3:4); “Hell’s Terror” (seven sermons on Matthew 10:28). Volumes 2 and 3 to follow in the future, D.V.
Thomas Manton (1620–77), The Works of Thomas Manton, volumes 1–3. Memoir by William Harris prefaced to volume 1; essay on Manton by J.C. Ryle prefaced to volume 2. (BTT; 1500+ pages; $71.95 set). Thomas Manton graduated from Oxford (B.A., 1639; B.D., 1654; D.D., 1660). He pastored two churches (Stoke Newington, Middlesex, and Covent Garden, London, 1644–62) until forbidden to preach. From 1662 to 1670 he preached in his own house, but was finally arrested and imprisoned for six months. Subsequently, he became preacher for London merchants in Pinners’ Hall. He was appointed as one of three clerks at the Westminster Assembly, and preached many times before Parliament during the Commonwealth.
A leading Puritan of his day, Manton’s first love was preaching. Nearly the entire corpus of The Complete Works of Thomas Manton (22 volumes) are composed of sermons—the legacy of a lifetime devoted to the patient and systematic teaching and application of God’s Word. Manton presents us with an outstanding example of what was most characteristic in the ministry of the English Puritans: careful, solid, warmhearted applicatory exposition of the Scriptures. Archbishop James Ussher called Manton “one of the best preachers in England.”
The Banner of Truth Trust has already republished volumes 4–8 of Manton’s Works (expositions of James, Jude, and Psalm 119). Volumes 1–3, newly reprinted, contain a great variety of sermons. Volume 1 includes an exposition of the Lord’s Prayer, seven sermons on Christ’s temptation, seven on His transfiguration, and eight on His Redemption and eternal existence. Volume 2 includes a group of sermons “tending to promote peace and holiness among Christians,” twenty miscellaneous sermons, a farewell sermon, a funeral message for Christopher Love who was executed, and one sermon each on the saint’s triumph over death and the blessed future of those who die in the Lord. Volume 3 contains eighteen sermons on 2 Thessalonians 2 and a detailed exposition of Isaiah 53.
Thomas Manton, One Hundred and Ninety Sermons on Psalm 119 (3 volumes; BTT; 1475 pages; $79.95). Manton’s sermons are renowned for their fidelity to the text of Scripture without abandoning well-balanced Calvinist views. They are cogently outlined, simply written, and profound in depth. Full and thorough, but never tedious, these sermons are richly experiential and practical.
Matthew Mead (1629–99), A Name in Heaven the Truest Ground of Joy (SDG; 144 pages; $18.95). Mead was appointed by Oliver Cromwell to shepherd the church at Shadwell from which he was ejected in 1662 for his nonconformity. Subsequently, he copastored for some time with William Greenhill. For the last twenty-five years of his life, Mead preached to a large congregation at Stepney.
This reprint contains just two discourses: “A Name in Heaven the Truest Ground of Joy,” on Luke 10:20 (“Rejoice because your names are written in heaven”), and “The Power of Grace in Weaning the Heart from the World,” on Psalm 131:1 (“My soul is even as a weaned child”). Abridged by Augustus Toplady.
John Owen (1616–83), Biblical Theology (SDG; 912 pages; $50.00). Ordained at Oxford, Owen dissented from the High Church policies of William Laud and subsequently approved of the congregational form of church government. Under his friend, Oliver Cromwell, he became dean of Christ Church and vice-chancellor of Oxford University. Ejected at the Restoration, he became pastor of a London church in 1673.
Owen penned numerous books on biblical and devotional themes, filling twenty-four volumes in all—his Works of sixteen volumes, his Hebrews exposition in seven volumes, and this volume, Biblical Theology, which is now finally translated from Latin. The translation is accurate and readable. There are six books in one, tracing theology from Adam to the present. Appendixed is Owen’s Defence of Scripture against Fanatacism, which is profitable in the current discussion with charismatics.
J.I. Packer says of Biblical Theology,
All the qualities we expect of Owen—the focus on God, the passion for Christ, the honoring of the Holy Spirit, the shattering depth of insight into human sinfulness and perversity,the concern for holiness, the radical view of regeneration, the vision of the church as a spiritual fellowship that worships, the distrust of philosophical schemes and styles for dealing with divine things, the celebration of God’s wisdom in giving the Scriptures in the form in which we have them—all are seen here. The present treatise is vintage Owen, searching and spiritual, devotional and doxological, the product of a masterful mind and a humble heart.John Owen, A Display of Arminianism (SWR; 145 pages; $ 7.50). In this short classic, which was Owen’s first publication, this “prince of the Puritans” ably points out the dangers of Arminianism and warns against a faithful church imbibing its principles or compromising with its teachings. The use of tables of comparison between the arguments for free grace and free will at the conclusion of each chapter is very helpful.
The Puritans on Prayer, by John Preston, Nathaniel Vincent, Samuel Lee (SDG; 300 pages; $24.95). The second volume published by Soli Deo Gloria in a series entitled, The Puritans on … , the first being The Puritans on Conversion.
Included in this book are three titles: The Saints’ Daily Exercise, by John Preston (five sermons on 1 Thess. 5:17); The Spirit of Prayer, by Nathaniel Vincent (on Eph. 6:18), and Secret Prayer, by Samuel Lee (on Matt. 6:6). If prayer as described in these treatises would characterize believers today, the world would be a different place!
Nathanael Ranew (1602–78), Solitude Improved by Divine Meditation (SDG; 350 pages; $24.95). Educated at Cambridge and Oxford, Ranew became minister of St. Andrew Hubbard, Little Eastcheap, London, for nearly twenty years until he went to Felsted, Essex, where he became prominent among Essex nonconformists. Upon his ejection in 1662, he settled in Bellericay where he died and was buried.
Solitude Improved is based on the premise that time alone is time for profitable meditation. Subtitled A Treatise proving the Duty, and demonstrating the Necessity, Excellency, Usefulness, Natures, Kinds, and Requisites of Divine Meditation, it thoroughly explains what meditation is, why it is a duty for every believer, and how to meditate for spiritual profit and pleasure.
Edward Reynolds (1599–1676), The Exaltation of Christ (SDG; 466 pages; $29.95). Edward Reynolds was educated at Oxford and Cambridge, pastored at Lincoln’s Inn, London, and served as rector of Braunston, Northamptonshire. He also served as one of the divines at the Westminster Assembly. Subsequently, he was chosen Dean of Christ Church and Vice-Chancellor of the University in 1648. In 1660, together with Edmund Calamy, he was appointed chaplain to the King, and frequently preached to the King and Parliament. In 1661 he was made Bishop of Norwich, a position he maintained until his death in 1676.
Reynolds was deeply respected as a gifted preacher. His written sermons and short religious treatises were prized by many. Collections of his works were first published in 1658 and 1679, followed by a complete edition in six volumes in 1826. Soli Deo Gloria has already reprinted volume 1 of the 1826 edition, The Sinfulness of Sin. The Exaltation of Christ, a reprint of volume 2 of the 1826 edition, is a 466-page exposition of Psalm 110. Subjects covered include the sceptre of Christ’s kingdom; the character of His subjects; His priesthood, victories, sufferings, and Resurrection. Of this work, Spurgeon wrote, “Surpassingly clear and elaborate. Reynolds was a man of vast learning and thoroughly evangelical spirit.”
Thomas Ridgley (1667–1734), A Body of Divinity on the Assembly’s Larger Catechism (2 volumes; SWR; 1350 pages; $99.95). Ridgley was ordained into the ministry in London in 1695 as assistant to Thomas Gouge. Four years later he became Gouge’s successor. In 1712 he commenced an independent seminary in London as a theological tutor, together with John Eames. He died in 1734.
A Body of Divinity was Ridgley’s major written work. It is a veritable treasure—indisputably the work on the Larger Catechism of the Westminster Assembly. He does for the Larger Catechism what Boston did for the Shorter Catechism. Like Boston, he takes hold of your mind as he goes for your heart. Thoroughly sound and experimental.
Ralph Robinson (1614–55), Christ All and In All (SDG; 627 pages; $29.95). Educated at Cambridge, Robinson was ordained in 1642 at St. Mary’s Woolnoth in London. He was clerk for the first assembly of provincial ministers held in London in 1647, and united with them in the protest against the king’s death in 1649. In 1651 he was arrested in connection with the conspiracy of Christopher Love, but was never brought to trial. He died at the age of forty-one in 1655.
First printed in 1660 posthumously, and reprinted in 1834 and 1868, this savory volume of sermons is subtitled, Several Significant Similitudes by Which the Lord Jesus Christ is Described in the Holy Scriptures. Contains fifty-three precious sermons on Christ as the true believer’s life, robe, protector, physician, light, shepherd, vine, horn of salvation, dew, chief cornerstone, sun of righteousness, precious ointment, consolation, myrrh, etc.
Samuel Rutherford (1600–1661), The Power of Faith and Prayer (RP; 88 pages; $4.95 p). Samuel Rutherford was one of Scotland’s leading theologians. He served as professor of humanities at the University of Edinburgh (1623), was ordained in Galloway (1627), and was banished to house imprisonment at Aberdeen (1636–38). In 1639 he became professor of divinity at St. Mary’s College where he took a leading role in propounding Calvinistic theology through numerous scholarly writings. He was also one of the influential Scottish commissioners sent to the Westminster Assembly, which kept him in London for nearly four years. After the death of Charles I, Rutherford became a protestor and spent the remainder of his life in controversy. He escaped prosecution for treason by illness and death in 1661.
Rutherford is best remembered today for his immemorial Letters which have been read avidly by God’s people throughout subsequent generations. He also authored several other volumes, however, that have long been in need of reprinting. This slender paperback, first reprinted since 1713, expounds the miracle of Christ in healing the two blind men (Matt. 9:27–31), focusing on the doctrine of faith and the exercise of prayer. Especially instructive are Rutherford’s comments in chapter 5 on the reflex action of the faith of the blind men. Written in the author’s typically devotional, Christ-centered, and quaint style.
Samuel Rutherford, The Trial and Triumph of Faith (OP; 246 pages; $23.95). Contains twenty-seven sermons on Christ’s saving work in the Canaanite woman. In each sermon, Rutherford addresses some practical aspect of the trial of faith.
Henry Scougal (1650–78), The Life of God in the Soul of Man (SPR; 161 pages; $8.00 p). Educated at King’s College, Aberdeen, where he later served as Professor of Divinity, this young Scottish divine was renowned for his holy walk. Nevertheless, he told his friends on his deathbed at the tender age of twenty-eight, “Look on me, as indeed I am, a miserable sinner.”
Subtitled The Nature and Excellency of the Christian Religion, this small paperback is a well-known, practical guide for living the Christian life. It has been used of God in the conversion of George Whitefield and many others. Abounds with practical guidance related to numerous Christian graces, focusing especially on love, patience, purity, humility, and watchfulness. Includes valuable thoughts on prayer and on partaking of the Lord’s Supper. Leighton’s well-known “Rules for a Holy Life” is appended.
Henry Scudder (d. 1659), The Christian’s Daily Walk (SPR; 342 pages; $16.00). Scudder graduated from Christ’s College, Cambridge, in 1606, pastored at Drayton, Oxfordshire, and then pastored a large flock in Coolingborn Ducis, Wiltshire, from 1633 until his death in 1659. He served as a Westminster Assembly divine.
Subtitled In Holy Security and Peace, Scudder’s renowned Christian’s Daily Walk, for which he is best remembered, is a practical “how-to” manual of Puritan devotion. Chapter titles include “Walking with God,” “Beginning the Day with God,” “Religious Fasting,” “The Lord’s Day,” “Walking with God Alone,” “Rules for Our Religious Conduct in Prosperity,” “Directions for Walking with God in Adversity,” “Uprightness,” “Freedom from Anxious Care,” “The Peace of God,” “Impediments of Peace,” and the longest, most discerning and practical chapter, “False Fears.” Filled with practical guidance; endorsed by John Owen.
Obadiah Sedgwick (1600–1658), The Doubting Believer (SDG; 212 pages; $19.95). Educated at Oxford, Obadiah Sedgwick became chaplain to Lord Horatio Vere whom he accompanied to the Netherlands. Subsequently, he became tutor at Oxford where Matthew Hale was one of his pupils. After a few years he left Oxford to become preacher at St. Mildred’s, London, and then at Coggleshall in Essex before being appointed to the Assembly of Divines at Westminster. In 1646 he became preacher at St. Paul’s, Covent Garden, where he was used for the conversion of many. He died at Marlborough in 1658 and was succeeded by Thomas Manton.
Sedgwick’s most renowned work, The Doubting Believer, aims to increase personal assurance of faith in the lives of believers. The bulk of this work consists of Sedgwick expounding fourteen reasons for believers’ doubts and then providing a cure for each of them. Subtitled A Treatise containing the nature, the kinds, the springs, and the remedies of doubtings incident to weak believers, it affords doubting believers many edifying directions and encouragements. Appendixed is a sermon Sedgwick preached before Parliament on the nature and danger of heresies.
Thomas Shepard (1604–49), God’s Plot: Puritan Spirituality in Thomas Shepard’s Cambridge, revised, expanded edition, ed. Michael McGiffert (University of Massachusetts Press; 237 pages; $24.95). Shepard graduated from Emmanuel College and became lecturer at Earl’s Coln. After considerable religious persecution, he sailed for America in 1635. He pastored at Cambridge, Massachusetts, until his death in 1649. He was a prominent American Puritan theologian who also played a key role in the Synod of Cambridge which ended the Antinomian Controversy.
Contains Shepard’s autobiography in full and his journal in part, both of which are profoundly experiential, as well as a number of fascinating spiritual testimonies of lay people in his congregation. Besides editing, McGiffert also supplies a preface, “Thomas Shepard: The Practice of Piety.”
Solomon Stoddard (1643–1729), The Safety of Appearing on the Day of Judgment in the Righteousness of Christ (SDG; 360 pages; $24.95). There is no more important question than that of how a man is made right with God. Is it through the merits of Christ? Or self-merit? Solomon Stoddard—the renowned pastor of Northampton, Massachusetts, for fifty-seven years who was succeeded by his grandson, Jonathan Edwards—shows that the place we need to be found at the end of our life is “in the righteousness of Christ.” Salvation is experienced through His merits alone.
George Swinnock (1627–73), The Works of George Swinnock (5 volumes; BTT; 500+ pages per volume; $149.95 per set). Born in Maidstone in 1627, Swinnock was educated at Cambridge and Oxford prior to becoming vicar of Rickmansworth and then of Great Kymble, where he was ejected for nonconformity in 1662. He then became chaplain to R. Hampden until 1671, when availing himself of the indulgence, he returned to his native town of Maidstone to pastor a large flock until his death in 1673.
A weighty, yet warm, simplicity with numerous illustrations runs through the writings of this able Puritan. His major work, The Christian Man’s Calling, contained in volumes 1 and 2 and part of volume 3 (more than 1000 pages long!), explores masterfully the calling of the true believer in many areas: “spiritual disciplines, personal lifestyle, relations in the home, marriage and daily work, in times of prosperity and adversity, in a hostile world, and at the time of death.” Volume 3 also contains Heaven and Hell Epitomised, and the first part of The Fading of the Flesh, a judicious treatise on preparation for death. In volume 4 The Fading of the Flesh is concluded; three treatises on the work of magistrates, and a rich practical study of the divine attributes, The Incomparableness of God, are also included. Volume 5 includes The Door of Salvation Opened by the Key of Regeneration and The Sinner’s Last Sentence—posthumously published sermons on Matthew 25:41–42 containing two hundred pages of counsel on the seriousness of sin.
Joseph Symonds (d. 1659?), The Case and Cure of a Deserted Soul (SDG; 360 pages; $27.95). Symonds became rector of St. Martin’s, London. Having adopted the views of the Independents on church government, he went to the Netherlands in 1639, and was appointed pastor of an English-speaking congregation at Rotterdam.
According to J. I. Packer and Peter Lewis, this is the classic Puritan treatment of what Martin Lloyd-Jones called “spiritual depression.” Lewis says that this book “shows a mind and heart replete with the best qualities of Puritan learning and devotion.” Symonds represents the Puritan pastor and counselor at his best.
Ralph Venning (1621–74), The Sinfulness of Sin (BTT; 288 pages; $6.95). Venning was a Puritan pastor at St. Olave’s Southwark, England, until the Great Ejection of 1662. First published in 1669 in the aftermath of the Great Plague of London as Sin, The Plague of Plagues, this practical and searching volume gives a clear explanation of what sin is, why it is so serious, and what can be its only remedy Here is life-saving medicine for a fatal epidemic also in our day when sin is so easily glossed over.
Thomas Vincent (1634–78), The True Christian’s Love to the Unseen Christ (SDG; 140 pages; $15.95). Subtitled: A discourse chiefly tending to excite and promote the decaying love of Christ in the hearts of Christians with an Appendix concerning Christ’s manifestation of Himself to them that love Him. This seventeenth-century reprint focuses on 1 Peter 1:8, “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” Passionate love for Christ flows from every page of this poignant treatise. Prefaced with a biographical sketch of Vincent.
Thomas Watson (d. 1686), The Art of Divine Contentment (SDG; 250 pages; $24.95). Upon completing his studies at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1646, Watson commenced a sixteen-year pastorate at St. Stephen’s Walbrook, London. When the Act of Uniformity in 1662 destroyed most of the London churches, he was one of many to open a private meeting place. After the Declaration of Indulgence in 1672, he obtained a license for Crosby Hall where he preached for several years until he retired to Essex. He died in 1686 suddenly while praying in secret.
The writings of Watson are replete with sound doctrine, practical wisdom, and heart-searching application. His profound spirituality, terse style, gripping remarks, practical illustrations, and beauty of expression make him one of the most quotable and devotional of all the Puritans. This excellent reprint on contentment is no exception. Based on Philippians 4:11, “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content,” a serious reading of this treatise would do much to promote genuine submission to God among believers and to arouse jealousy among the unsaved.
Thomas Watson, The Duty of Self-Denial and Ten Other Sermons (SDG; 210 pages; $22.95). Watson’s eight-chapter work on self-denial and seven of the additional ten sermons included in this book have not been reprinted since the seventeenth century. Sermons on God Himself as the reward of His people, on “kissing” the Son, and on the Judgment Day are particularly outstanding.
Thomas Watson, Gleanings from Thomas Watson (SDG; 160 pages; $16.95). A collection of quotations from this much-loved Puritan, divided into various subjects that illustrate the believer’s life and experience in Christ.
Thomas Watson, The Godly Man’s Picture (BTT; 252 pages; $6.95 p). This discerning work, subtitled, Drawn with a Scripture Pencil, or, Some Characteristics of a Man who is Going to Heaven, is no exception. After expounding the nature of godliness, Watson expounds twenty-four marks of grace which cover the bulk of this volume. Concluding chapters include exhortations and helps to godliness; how to persevere in godliness; counsel and comfort for the godly; and the mystical union between Christ and His people. Excellent for self-examination.
Thomas Watson, Harmless as Doves: A Puritan’s View of the Christian life (CFP; 188 pages; $9.95 p). Ten excellent sermons which provide a biblical picture of practical Christian living.
Thomas Watson, Heaven Taken by Storm, ed. Joel R. Beeke (SDG; 135 pages; $12.95). Based on Matthew 11:12, Watson describes how the Christian is to take the kingdom of heaven by holy violence through the reading and exposition of Scripture, prayer, meditation, self-examination, conversation, and the sanctification of the Lord’s day. He poignantly explains how the believer is also to offer violence towards himself, Satan, and the world. An excellent handbook on how to use the various means of grace. Two of Watson’s sermons serve as an appendix: “The Happiness of Drawing Near to God,” and “How We May Read the Scriptures with Most Spiritual Profit.”
Thomas Watson, The Mischief of Sin (SDG; 176 pages; $16.95). Contains Watson’s most definitive treatment of sin, first reprinted since 1671. Includes four parts: The Mischief of Sin, The Desperateness of Sinners, An Alarm to Sinners, and Hell’s Furnace Heated Hotter. There is also an appendix by Watson titled “The Mystery of the Lord’s Supper.”
John MacArthur writes, “Thomas Watson’s study of sin is profound, convicting, thought-provoking, and filled with rich spiritual insight. It distills the best attributes of Puritan writing. As devotional as it is doctrinal, as practical as it is biblically sound, and as delightful as it is convicting, this books cuts to the very heart of the biblical issues regarding sin. You cannot read it and remain indifferent toward sin in your own life.”
Thomas Watson, Religion Our True Interest (BB; 144 pages; $6.95). First published in 1682, now being reprinted for the first time, this rare treatise contains Watson’s practical notes on Malachi 3:16–18. Includes helpful material on the fear of God, religious conversation, God-centered thinking, and God’s disposition toward His people. A banquet of spiritual food that will encourage, enlighten, and admonish believers.
Thomas Watson and Samuel Lee, The Bible and the Closet (SPR; 256 pages; $16.00). Contains three parts: How We May Read the Scriptures with Most Spiritual Profit by Thomas Watson; a treatise on Secret Prayer Successfully Managed by Samuel Lee, a seventeenth-century Puritan; and The Family Altar, a collection of helps and encouragements for conducting family worship given by Isaac Watts, Philip Doddridge, and others.
Secondary Sources
For the sake of space, only a limited number of recently printed secondary sources on Puritans and Puritanism are reviewed.
Joel R. Beeke, Assurance of Faith: Calvin, English Puritanism and the Dutch Second Reformation (PL; 508 pages; $39.95 p). Against the backdrop of the magisterial Reformers, this book examines the theological development of personal assurance of faith from 1600 to 1760 in English Puritanism and its parallel movement in the Netherlands. Studies of William Perkins, William Teellinck, the Westminster Confession, John Owen, Alexander Comrie, and Thomas Goodwin demonstrate that the differences between Calvin and English Puritanism on assurance arose primarily from a newly evolving pastoral context rather than from foundational variations in doctrine. A thorough bibliography attached lists some fifteen hundred titles.
William Beveridge, A Short History of The Westminster Assembly, ed. J. Ligon Duncan III (RAP; 157 pages; $9.95 p). A brief, popular history of the Westminster Assembly (1643–49), revised from the original 1904 work. Helpful annotated bibliography attached.
Samuel William Carruthers, The Everyday Work of the Westminster Assembly, ed. J. Ligon Duncan III. (RAP; 284 pages; $9.95 p). Despite a busy life as a medical doctor and elder in the Presbyterian Church of England, Carruthers established himself as perhaps the leading scholar of the Westminster Assembly in his day. He published the standard critical edition of the Westminster Confession of Faith in 1937 and followed it up with this able study in 1943 which treats an aspect of the Assembly not adequately dealt with anywhere else. In Carruthers’ own words, his research aims to tell “in connected fashion the many daily occupations ... which filled a large part of the time of the Divines, and which tested and manifested their practical wisdom, as well as their limitations and failings.”
Pieter DeVries, John Bunyan on the Order of Salvation, translated by C. van Haaften (PL; 234 pages; $44.95). An excellent study of Bunyan’s Soteriology, which does justice to his experiential emphases.
John Gerstner, Jonathan Edwards, Evangelist (SDG; 192 pages; $14.95 p). This paperback, previously published in hardcover as Steps to Salvation: The Evangelistic Message of Jonathan Edwards (1960), is a thorough study of the way of Salvation as taught in the sermons of Jonathan Edwards. Includes chapters on conviction of sin, seeking Salvation, backsliding, Regeneration, Justification by faith alone, assurance, and covenant. Gerstner is one of the world’s most astute authorities on Edwards’s sermons; he has studied his as yet unpublished sermons perhaps more thoroughly than anyone else.
William H. Hetherington, History of the Westminster Assembly of Divines (SWR; 325 pages; $29.95). An 1843 reprint which still represents the best popular historical account of the Westminster Assembly. In covering the period from 1531 to 1662, Hetherington masterfully unveils what led to the convening of this august body of godly divines and scholars in 1643. He also details their debates and resolutions which culminated in the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Shorter and Larger Catechisms, and other pertinent documents. Also included are a chapter on the theological productions of the Westminster Assembly and six valuable appendices.
Ernest F. Kevan, The Grace of Law: A Study in Puritan Theology (SDG; 294 pages; $12.95 p). Kevan, formerly principal of the London Bible College, provides us with a well-documented study on the Puritan theology of law, and introduces us to many Puritans who are relatively unknown. Contains chapters on “The Law of God for Man,” “The Law and Sin,” “The Place of Law in the Purpose of God,” “The Continuance of Moral Obligation,” “The Christian Law-Keeping,” and several others, including a chapter on “Christian Freedom.” Chapters 3 and 4 on the place of law in the purpose of God and on the end of the law in Christ’s righteousness are invaluable. An excellent volume to read to obtain a clear biblical grasp on the relationship between Law and Gospel, thereby avoiding both legalism and antinomianism. Kevan successfully argues that God’s Law and God’s grace are not enemies but allies in bringing sinners both for the first time and by renewal to faith and repentance at the feet of Christ. Provides considerable guidance to those concerned about how to live a life of holiness, showing how God’s Law remains the believer’s delight when viewed in Christ. Also has much to contribute indirectly to the controversy over Lordship salvation.
Don Kistler, A Spectacle Unto God: The Life and Death of Christopher Love (SDG; 212 pages; $23.95). Stimulating, illustrated biographical account of a great Puritan and Westminster Assembly divine who was executed by Cromwell’s forces his loyalty to Charles II. Contains numerous letters of Love to his wife and others. Whets our appetite for Love’s Works.
Peter Lewis, The Genius of Puritanism (SDG; 200 pages; $14.95). An excellent introduction to the Puritans, their writings, and their pastoral work. Examines the Puritan ministers as pastors, counselors, and theologians, as well as in their private lives. The section on spiritual depression is particularly detailed and helpful.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Puritans: Their Origins and Successors (BTT; 436 pages; $32.95). This volume brings together the addresses given by the author at the Puritan Studies and Westminster Conferences between 1959 and 1978. As J. I. Packer observed, “These studies are of practical value because the Puritans are approached with three important questions in mind: What did they teach and do? Was their teaching biblical? And, what can we learn from them for our life and witness today?”
A. F. Mitchell and John Struthers, Minutes of the Sessions of the Westminster Assembly of Divines (SWR; 650 pages; $34.95). B. B. Warfield rightly calls this valuable resource “the fundamental authority for the study of the work of the assembly.” Includes notes and indices on the Directory for Church Government, Westminster Confession of Faith, and Shorter and Larger Catechisms, as well as an eighty-six page introduction.
Geoffrey F. Nuttall, The Holy Spirit in Puritan Faith and Experience (University of Chicago Press; 222 pages; $22.00 p). A standard work, first published in 1946, on the Puritan view of the saving ministration of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers. Includes chapters on the Spirit’s relationship to the Word and to prayer, the witness and liberty of the Spirit, the life and fellowship of the Spirit, etc. Nuttall seeks to demonstrate the unity of the Reformation tradition, sometimes even drawing upon the Quaker tradition in a somewhat exaggerated fashion; nevertheless, there is much valuable material in this volume not found elsewhere.
James I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life (CB; 366 pages; $24.95). Packer “uncovers the hidden treasures of Puritan life and thought ... revealing the depth and breadth of Puritan spiritual life, contrasting it with the superficiality” of our day. Most of the chapters are addresses given at Puritan and Reformed Studies Conferences. Several addresses focus on some aspect of John Owen’s theology. “The Witness of the Spirit in Puritan Thought” is a particularly valuable chapter. Very readable and informative.
Leland Ryken, Worldly Saints: The Puritans As They Really Were (Z; 280 pages; $17.95 p). Ryken successfully fulfills his threefold purpose: “(1) to correct an almost universal misunderstanding of what the Puritans really stood for, (2) to bring together in a convenient synthesis the best that the Puritans thought and said on selected topics, and (3) to recover the Christian wisdom of the Puritans for today.” Covers not only strictly religious topics such as the Puritan view of the Bible, church, preaching, and worship, but also delves into Puritan attitudes towards work, marriage and sex, money, family, education, and social action. Concluding chapters focus on the Puritans’ greatest strengths and weaknesses from the author’s perspective. This is definitely the book to obtain for an introductory, broad, yet fairly accurate overview of the Puritans and Puritanism.
Benjamin B. Warfield, The Westminster Assembly and Its Work (SWR; 400 pages; $19.95 p). Contains six articles relative to the Westminster Assembly by a highly esteemed Princeton theologian who stood in the tradition of Archibald Alexander and Charles Hodge. Chapters dealing with the inspiration of Scripture, God’s absolutely sovereign decree, and the Holy Spirit bear special relevance for today.
Most of the above titles are available at significantly discounted prices from Reformation Heritage Books, 2115 Romence N.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503 (616) 459–6565, or Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service, P.O. Box 613, Carlisle, Pennsylvania 17013 (800) 656–0231.
Author
Dr. Joel Beeke is pastor of Heritage Netherlands Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
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