In the early 1560s Frederick III (1516-76), Elector Palatine desired that his subjects be led to a ‘devout knowledge and fear of the Almighty and his holy Word of salvation’. He commissioned a group of theologians and ministers to compose a catechetical summary of biblical truth that could be committed to memory and be an encouragement to personal faith and growth in Christ. The final version was approved by the Synod in Heidelberg (1563), the city lending its name to the catechism.

The Heidelberg Catechism follows the pattern of the Epistle to the Romans. It opens with the question ‘What is your only comfort in life and in death?’, and then examines the realities of human sin and misery (Rom. 1-3:20); salvation in Christ, including faith and repentance (Rom. 3:21-11:36); and the Christian life of thankful obedience in response to God’s grace in Christ (Rom. 12-16). The catechism stands as a faithful testimony to the ancient Christian faith in its scripturally derived shape and content, and further expressed in its exposition and application of the Apostles’ Creed, the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord’s Prayer. — FROM THE FOREWORD BY WILLIAM VANDOODEWAARD

Review

• Review by Terry Delaney

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• The Loveliness of Christ, by Samuel Rutherford
• A Guide to Christian Living, by John Calvin
• Truth for All Time, by John Calvin
• The Westminster Confession of Faith
• The 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith
• The Heidelberg Catechism

Want to learn more about each title in this set? Click on the related items below to read in depth about each title, however, remember to add the ‘Gift Editions Set’ to your cart if you want to receive the set as it is at present.

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‘The believer’s faith, love and hope would all be well-served by prayerful and meditative reading of this little volume. Unbelievers willing to read a book of this order would find themselves often face to face with Christ, and the enticing challenge of his person and work. In essence, it is full of the gospel, and the aroma of Jesus rises from it sweetly. To have your eyes turned to and fixed upon him, you could do much worse than to purchase and peruse this volume.’ — JEREMY WALKER

‘This is a choice little book, well suited to readers of every sort. It moved this reviewer several times to pause in the enjoyment of emotions which are out of this world.’ — MAURICE ROBERTS

Book Description

In the Foreword of this book Sir Marcus Loane writes, ‘The wonder and glory of the Resurrection are far greater than we can ever conceive. That great drama took place in the silent tomb a great while before it was yet day. No one else was there when God raised Jesus from the dead: no one saw it happen . . . All that was mortal had put on immortality: death was swallowed up in victory. And it was in his risen glory that he made himself known to his disciples . . .’

The chapters that follow are part of a well-loved and life-long pilgrimage for the author. The Resurrection story they recount comes across with a freshness and loveliness that is full of heart-warming fascination.

Review

• Review by Jeremy Walker
• Review by Erik Raymond

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‘This edition of the Confession of Faith is what our forefathers would have called a Vade Mecum—literally a “Go with me”—a book small enough to take anywhere, but substantial enough to be useful everywhere.’ — SINCLAIR B. FERGUSON

DESCRIPTION

Agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, with the assistance of commissioners from The Church of Scotland, as part of the Covenanted Uniformity in religion betwixt the churches of Christ in the Kingdoms of Scotland, England, and Ireland.

This edition contains the Westminster Confession of Faith as approved by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland 1647. It also includes Chapters 20, 23, 31, as altered, amended, and adopted as the Doctrinal Part of the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in American, 1788. Additional footnotes have been inserted at Chapters 22.111, 24.IV, and 25.VI, to indicate other places where the Confession has been altered in the editions adopted by the OPC and the PCA.

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Put forth by the elders and brethren of many congregations of Christians (baptized upon profession of their faith) in London and the country.

With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation, Rom. 10:10.

This Confession was first printed in London for Benjamin Harris, ‘to be sold at his shop at the Stationers Arms in Sweetings Rents, in Cornhill, near the Royal Exchange, 1677.’ Only minor alterations to spelling, punctuation and proof texts have been made by the editors of this Pocket Puritan gift edition.

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Review

• Review by Terry Delaney.

The post The Baptist Confession of Faith appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

No chapter better corresponds to the author’s original intention than that entitled ‘On the Christian Life’. It offered a clear, balanced set of directions and encouragements to all who desired to live according to the gospel. Strong in its theological affirmation of God’s righteousness and providential care, of the reconciliation won for us by Christ and of the Holy Spirit’s work of sanctification, it was equally strong in its pastoral concern for believers who were beset by their own weakness and sin, who daily endured trial and temptation and who nevertheless, united to Christ by faith, shared in his life and tasted his power. The Christian life, as Calvin describes it, is lived simultaneously in the shadow of the cross and in the bright light of the resurrection. That the writer himself knew something of the cost of discipleship is clear from a consideration of his own experience. The distress of exile, the burden of poverty, the hurt of slander and misrepresentation, the threat of physical harm, were all things he knew at first hand. Farel, Calvin’s colleague, rightly calls him ‘my good, true brother, who is a partner in the cross of Jesus, . . . a man active and upright in the work of the gospel.’ The author who speaks in the Institutes about the pressures of Christian living is no armchair moralist, nor is he an unyielding Stoic for whom overt displays of emotion are a grave weakness. For Calvin tears as well as joy have a valid and necessary place: to be devoid of feeling is to be no better than a stone or block of wood. The essential thing is that, in good times and in bad, we continue to trust God who through grace has adopted us as his children, who quickens and comforts us by his Spirit, and who bids us persevere in well-doing until our life’s end.

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‘Surprising though it may seem in a world of large books, of all those owned by our family this may be the one we have most often lent or quoted to friends. It is full of rich spiritual wisdom and insight culled from the experience of a man who knew both the sorrows of life and the joys of faith in great abundance…. I pray that many readers will find here the help, comfort, wise counsel, and spiritual compass that we and our friends have so often discovered in meditating on these pages.’ — SINCLAIR B. FERGUSON

‘When we are dead and gone let the world know that Spurgeon held Rutherford’s Letters to be the nearest thing to inspiration which can be found in all the writings of mere men.’ — C.H. SPURGEON

Book Description

The Loveliness of Christ is a beautiful little gift book containing short extracts in which some of Rutherford’s most helpful thoughts are allowed to stand out in their unadorned wisdom and power. Those familiar with Andrew Bonar’s great nineteenth-century collection of the Letters of Samuel Rutherford will feel that this setting of brief quotations makes Rutherford’s words sparkle like diamonds on a dark cloth in a jeweller’s shop. It is not surprising then, that a hundred years ago, H. C. G. Moule, the Anglican Bishop of Durham, said in his simple but elegant commendation of the original edition of The Loveliness of Christ that it was ‘a small casket stored with many jewels’. It is the publisher’s wish that the reader, in meditating on these pages, will find here help, comfort, wise counsel, and spiritual compass, and to say with Rutherford, ‘Every day we may see some new thing in Christ. His love hath neither brim nor bottom.’

Reviews

• Review by Sinclair B. Ferguson
• Review by Terry Delaney
• Review by Mary Bartholomew

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‘This book is a little gem!…It would be hard to find a clearer summary of the faith in so short a compass, and perhaps impossible to find one so warm…Well worth the read!’ — EVANGELICALS NOW

Book Description

‘John Calvin knew that if the biblical truths rediscovered at the Reformation were to spread throughout the world, they would have to be presented in a form that ordinary people could understand. So, during the winter of 1536-37, the 29-year old Calvin wrote, in French, his Brief Outline of the Christian Faith. This is Calvin’s striking but concise attempt to define the Christian Faith for ordinary people! Here you have the very core of Protestant belief and feel the warmth of its ardent love for God and men.’ — From the preface by Stuart Olyott

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Reviews

• Review by ‘Peculiar Pilgrim’

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