On 1 July 1643, the Westminster Assembly of Divines, consisting of many of the foremost theologians of the English and Scottish churches, convened at Westminster Abbey in London. Their task from the English Parliament was ambitious to say the least: to reform the liturgy, discipline, and government of the Church of England; to promote church unity between England, Scotland, and the Continent; and to clarify and revise the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of the Church of England.

Over the course of five politically tumultuous years, committees of the Assembly met and developed a set of documents that would have significant influence in defining the belief and practice of Presbyterian churches in Britain (especially in Scotland) and indeed the world. The doctrinal framework that the Assembly established in their Confession also provided the foundation of the central creedal documents of the Baptists and Congregationalists that were clarified in the decades following the Assembly.

Although the hoped-for unity between the English and Scottish churches did not materialise, nevertheless the documents produced by the Assembly, and especially the Confession of Faith and Larger and Shorter Catechisms, would become the touchstone for sound doctrine, cherished by generations of Christians as a well-honed summary of biblical truth.

Of the Confession of Faith itself, Professor John Murray noted: ‘The Westminster Confession is the last of the great reformation creeds. No creed of the Christian church is comparable to that of Westminster in respect of the skill with which the fruits of fifteen centuries of Christian thought have been preserved, and tat the same time examined anew and clarified in the light of that fuller understanding of God’s word which the Holy Spirit has imparted.’

This volume contains the Confession of Faith, the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, and the other principal documents to come out of the Westminster Assembly. The text is newly typeset, and biblical references are given in full. Later American revisions of the Westminster Confession are included in an appendix.

The post The Westminster Confession appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘It is a masterpiece of piety and genius; and will, we doubt not, be of standing use to the people of God be so long as the sun and moon endure.’ — A. M. TOPLADY

‘Read anything of his, and you will see that it is almost like reading the Bible itself. He had read it till his whole being was saturated with Scripture; and, though his writings are charmingly full of poetry, yet he cannot give us his Pilgrim’s Progress – without continually making us feel and say, “Why, this man is a living Bible!”’ –C. H. SPURGEON

Book Description

Although John Bunyan’s Pilgrim emerged in Puritan dress from the Town Prison on Bedford Bridge in 1676, he has remained to this day, in more than 120 languages, an influence which is almost as wide as Christianity itself. Many explanations are offered for the book’s enduring appeal—the masterly allegory which can charm both child and adult; the great humanness of the characters who, after a few rapid strokes, appear in flesh and blood likeness; the plain, vivid English—and yet all these things are secondary.

Above all, Pilgrim’s Progress is a life story. It depicts the life which Bunyan himself lived and, at the same time, the life with which all Christians can substantially identify themselves. For, as Augustus M. Toplady wrote, the book describes ‘every stage of a Christian’s experience, from conversion to glorification.’ It does so with such abiding relevance because Bunyan’s world of thought is that of the Bible itself.

This re-typeset edition of Pilgrim’s Progress is based on the edition published by John C. Nimmo in 1895. It includes marginal notes and Scripture references, together with the fine etchings by William Strang.

Reviews

• Review by Tony Doppke

The post Pilgrim’s Progress appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘William S. Plumer’s Commentary on the Psalms is my constant companion as I read and preach through the Psalms. His “Devotional Thoughts” at the end of his exposition of each of the psalms are so rich, wise, pastoral, specific and suggestive, that every preacher will find superabundant help, especially in the area of application, in them. I cannot recommend Plumer too highly.’– LIGON DUNCAN

Book Description

Although more than six hundred commentators have written on the Psalms, it has long been difficult to find a comprehensive treatment of this book of Scripture in one volume. Some expositions have excelled in scholarship, but, unlike the Psalter, in instructing the mind they have failed to exercise the heart. Dr Plumer’s Commentary avoids this defect, the author believing that from the Psalms ‘piety has derived more nourishment than from any other source,’ and that his work should serve that same purpose. In 1211 pages he gives both exposition and doctrinal and practical remarks and presents in readable form a great wealth of material drawn from all the leading commentators who had gone before him. In the opinion of Dr John Macleod of Edinburgh, he succeeded in producing the best single volume on this book of Scripture.

Graduating from Princeton Seminary in 1826, Plumer was a well-known Southern Presbyterian preacher and writer who spent the last thirteen years of his life as a Professor at Columbia Theological Seminary, South Carolina. He produced his exposition of the Psalms during the prime of life, and, as he tells us, ‘never felt more disposed to any work.’ In the opinion of others, Dr Plumer was outstanding as a spiritual Christian: ‘His prayers,’ wrote Moses D. Hoge, ‘were the tender pleadings of a soul in communion with God.’ Of the place which the Psalms had in his own experience he writes: ‘During a Christian and ministerial life, neither short, uneventful, nor free from dark days and sharp sorrows, the author has never been able to secure to himself, or administer to others, full support and abounding consolation without a resort to the Psalms.’

The post Psalms appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘A book I think every Christian should read. It is so readable, so accessible, a very simple style of presentation, but absolutely forceful, and discerning. Every time I read it the Lord uses it to press upon me the importance and the possibility of holiness. It’s one of those books that makes you feel convicted but also inspired.’ — KEVIN DEYOUNG

‘…this book is simply the best of Ryle the Puritan-type pastor. Real Christians will find it a gold mine, a feast, a spur and a heart-warmer, food, drink, medicine, and a course of vitamins, all in one.’– J.I. PACKER

Book Description

Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots is perhaps J. C. Ryle’s best-known and, arguably, best-loved book. Although many things have changed since 1877, when this book was first published, one thing remains the same: ‘real practical holiness does not receive the attention it deserves.’ It was to remedy this attention deficit, and to counter false teaching on this most important subject, that Ryle took up his pen.
The twenty-one chapters in this enlarged edition highlight:

• the real nature of holiness
• the temptations and difficulties which all must expect who pursue it
• the life-transforming truth that union with Christ is the root of holiness
• the immense encouragement Jesus Christ holds out to all who strive to be holy.

Holiness, as with all of Ryle’s works, is clear and concise, penetrating and practical.

Mark Jones on Holiness

Banner Trustees on J.C. Ryle

Table of Contents Expand ↓

Review

• Review by Peter Barnes
• Review by Jeremy Marshall

The post Holiness appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

More than anything else, Richard Sibbes was a great preacher. He never lost sight of the fact that the best Christian counselling is done through the patient and enlivening exposition of the Word of God. Sibbes excelled as a comforter of the troubled and doubting, but he also possessed the rare gift of illuminating every passage of Scripture he handled by drawing out its significance for his hearers and readers. The republication of the Nichol edition of his complete works is a notable event for all who have an appetite for helpful and faithful biblical preaching.

Table of Contents Expand ↓

Reviews

• Review by Tony Doppke

The post The Works of Richard Sibbes appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

The enduring value of this ‘Autobiography’ lies in its record of God’s grace. Through out these pages the Saviour stands above the servant. That Christ is worthy of a devotion and a service incomparably greater than any redeemed sinner can render is the supreme lesson of the book.

‘In his heart’, wrote Archibald Brown, ‘Jesus stood unapproached, unrivalled. He worshipped Him; he adored Him. He was our Lord’s delighted captive.’ Whatever Spurgeon did he did it for Christ. None can read these pages without being indelibly impressed with the author’s words, ‘there is no time for serving the Lord like the very earliest days of youth.’

Sinclair Ferguson’s First Banner Book

Reviews

• Review by Tony Doppke

The post C.H. Spurgeon Autobiography appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

The full edition of Edwards’ Works, in two volumes. Dr. D. M. Lloyd-Jones said ‘In my early days in the ministry there were no books which helped me more, both personally and in respect of my preaching, than this two-volume edition of The Works of Jonathan Edwards…I devoured these volumes and literally just read and read them. It is certainly true that they helped me more than anything else. If I had the power I would make these two volumes compulsory reading for all ministers! Edwards seems to satisfy all round; he really was an amazing man.’

Table of Contents Expand ↓

We asked people how reading Edwards had benefitted them; this is what they said …
Here’s What You Said About Jonathan Edwards

The post The Works Of Jonathan Edwards appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

Despite his other achievements, Owen is best famed for his writings. These cover the range of doctrinal, ecclesiastical and practical subjects. They are characterized by profundity, thoroughness and, consequently, authority. Andrew Thomson said that Owen ‘makes you feel when he has reached the end of his subject, that he has also exhausted it.’ Although many of his works were called forth by the particular needs of his own day they all have a uniform quality of timelessness. Owen’s works were republished in full in the nineteenth century. Owen is surely the Prince of the Puritans. ‘To master his works’, says Spurgeon, ‘is to be a profound theologian.’

Sinclair Ferguson on The Works of John Owen

The post The Works of John Owen appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

Book Description

The repeated editions of Flavel’s Works bear their own witness to his popularity. His complete works had long been unobtainable until we reprinted them in 1968. His six volumes are in themselves a library of the best Puritan divinity and a set will be a life-long treasure to those who possess it. He is one of that small number of evangelical writers who can by their lucidity and simplicity help those at the beginning of the Christian life and at the same time be a strong companion to those who near its end.

Sinclair Ferguson on The Works of John Flavel

Table of Contents Expand ↓

The post The Works of John Flavel appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

The three volumes of Clarkson’s Works published in 1864-65 well illustrate his preaching powers. His expositions are characterised by faithfulness to biblical teaching, by careful analysis and exposition, and by copious application.

As a preacher, Clarkson expressed himself forcefully and memorably. These powers, happily married to a clear and logical mind, gave birth to sermons which are full of striking expressions and fruitful insights.

Table of Contents Expand ↓

The post The Works Of David Clarkson appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘If D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ life were a novel it would be panned by critics as too unrealistic. Because his life is a historical reality we are left to wonder at the providential energy that could have effected such an astonishing career. . . This book is an electrifying apologetic for the powerfully theologized pulpit emphases of the Reformers and Puritans.’– CHRISTIANITY TODAY

‘This provides great encouragement and instruction for pastors seeking a ministry given to scriptural and doctrinal edification of the Bride of Christ.’ — TOM NETTLES

‘The two-volume biography of Martyn Lloyd- Jones, the most powerful twentieth-century influence on my life.’ — MICHAEL HAYKIN

Book Description

When Martyn Lloyd-Jones, physician, preacher and Christian Leader, died in 1981, after more then 40 years in London, few knew the remarkable story of his formative earlier years which, in the authorised biography, is now told for the first time. From his rural Welsh background to St Bartholomew’s Hospital (where at the age of 23 he was Chief Clinical Assistant to Sir Thomas Horder, the King’s Physician), then, suddenly at 27, to a struggling Calvinistic Methodist Church in Aberavon, South Wales, he appears successively as schoolboy, dairyman’s assistant, political enthusiast, debater, doctor, and finally Christian preacher.

Some regarded his change of career as romantic, others as foolish. The one thing of which Dr Lloyd-Jones was sure was that his settlement amid the industrial depression of South Wales was no sacrifice: ‘I gave up nothing. I received everything. I count it the highest honour God can confer on any man to call to be herald of the gospel’.

Volume 1 traces the unforgettable events of his first pastorate, his wider ministry in Wales (where, by 1933, the press reported, ‘he draws thousands to hear his message in all parts of the Principality’), his first visits to North America, and finally his settlement at Westminster Chapel, London,on the eve of World War II. While some saw him as ‘the modern Moody’, and others as ‘the last of the Calvanistic preachers’, Iain H. Murray’s work makes constant use of the hitherto unpublished material, and is able to present Dr Lloyd-Jones’ own view of his life and ministry.

Volume 2 contains much source material now in print for the first time and will be a primary text on evangelicalism in the twentieth century. At all vital points Iain Murray, the authorised biographer, is able to give his subjects own understanding of what happened. But neither public ministry nor controversy dominate the story. There is much on Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ personal life. The foremost impression left is of the overruling of divine providence and of the spiritual grace which shown in him as a Christian. Though in the eyes of the other Christians he was ‘full of faith and of the Holy Spirit’, yet in his own eyes he was, ‘ nothing but an old sinner saved by the grace of God’.

ALISTAIR BEGG ON D. MARTYN LLOYD-JONES

The Single-Mindedness of the Ministry of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

The post D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘Justice has at last been done to the greatest preacher that England has ever produced.’– D. M. LLOYD-JONES

‘One of the great monumental literary achievements of the 20th century. George Whitefield has come alive for me as I have been reading the book, a few pages at a time each evening.’– Dr SHERWOOD E. WIRT

‘…My heart was tremendously stirred as I read it – more than it has been for many, many years.’– Dr OSWALD J. SMITH

‘The full [two volume set] makes you want to preach . . . I insist on the two-volume. It gives the heart of the man.’ -– Dr STEVE LAWSON

Book Description

Many reasons combine to make this full-scale portrait of Whitefield a biography of impressive importance.

First, Whitefield’s life provides in itself a story scarcely paralleled. From the age of 24 when he commanded the largest congregations yet seen in America, until his death 30 years later, his was the voice heard by the English-speaking world. By common consent he was the greatest preacher of the 18th Century, and of his preaching gifts J.C. Ryle wrote, ‘No Englishman, I believe, dead or alive, has ever equalled him.’

Second, Whitefield’s life is central in the historical epoch which shaped the subsequent history of Britain and America. the movements which saw the hitherto dormant doctrines of the Reformation preached in the open-air in England, which lifted the separate American colonies and forged a national religious consciousness, which broke the religious deadness of Scotland and made Wales a nation raised on the Bible, were all closely related to Whitefield.

Third, Whitefield’s life commencing as it did in an era of enormous religious indifference and scepticism provides a study in revival Christianity which is perhaps second only to the apostolic era itself. The hidden springs of the great evangelical revival did not lie in the men nor in the times, but rather in the fresh effusion of the Holy Spirit upon hearts and minds.

Volume 1 brings the story of George Whitefield, and of the evangelical revival, up to the end of the year 1740. In it we are told in vivid detail how a young man of Gloucester – ‘at 16 a tapster, at 26 the most brilliant and popular preacher the modern world has ever known’ – exercised a ministry of the gospel crammed full of arduous labour and crowned with divine blessing.

Volume 2 covers the period 1741-1770. It opened with the doctrinal conflict with the two Wesleys and with a serious division in Methodist ranks, quickly followed by a visit to Scotland in which revival reached its high watermark. It follows the remaining events onwards until his death in 1770.

An outstanding biography, popularly written, and with an urgent message for the present day.

Steve Lawson on Reading George Whitefield

REVIEWS

• Review by Tim Challies

The post George Whitefield appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

Volume 1 contains the most important of John Murray’s shorter writings and addresses between the years 1935 and 1973. They have been placed together in this opening volume of his Collected Writings as the best introduction to his thought on wide range of Christian truth. Murray’s belief was that, while the expression of truth ‘may be expanded indefinitely and furnish nourishment for the highest intellects to eternity’, it is also capable of presentation in popular and generally-understood terms. Accordingly, he speaks in these pages not so much to students as to the church at large in this critical century of her history. Such chapters as ‘Some Necessary Emphases in Preaching’, ‘The Power of the Holy Spirit’, and ‘The Church of Mission’, show how thoroughly he understood the great inadequacies of much contemporary Christianity.

Volume 2 of his Collected Writings provides virtually John Murray’s own selection from his articles and lectures in systematic theology. In it will be found definitive treatments of subjects upon which, in the judgement of many, he advanced the frontiers of reformed theology and gave fresh elucidation of biblical truth. This is most evident in the chapters on Adamic Administration and Definitive Sanctification, but the seed-thoughts of further insight are also clearly evident in many other places.

The arrangement is in seven sections which deal comprehensively with the themes of Man, Common Grace, Christ and Redemption (2 sections), Sanctification , Church and Sacraments, and the Last Things. To the authors own selection the publishers have added material from his class lectures. None of the 36 chapters has previously appeared in any of John Murray’s volumes.

Volume 3 of Murray’s Collected Writings brings to the reader both the story of his life and some of the choicest fruit of his ministry. Since the publication of volumes one and two of the Collected Writings of John Murray, this third volume in the series has been eagerly awaited. As promised, it contains an extensive account of Murray’s life and the first published collection of his sermons. Added to these are the penetrating and valuable book reviews which he contributed to The Westminster Theological Journal during the period 1939-1953. Iain H. Murray’s biography of John Murray traces his life from his boyhood days in the north of Scotland at the turn of the century, through the First World War (in which he suffered the loss of one eye), his theological training at Princeton and his long ministry as a Seminary Professor in Philadelphia, until his retirement, his return to his native Scotland, and his late marriage and brief period of fatherhood. The biography closes with a moving account of his last days during the early months of 1974.

Volume 4, Studies in Theology, is the concluding volume in the Collected Writings of John Murray. Like the preceding volumes it presents a selection of the finest work, produced mainly during his long and distinguished ministry as Professor of Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia. Volume 4 includes articles dealing with several areas of doctrine which lay close to Murray’s heart. Among them is the hitherto unpublished work, ‘Jesus, the Son of God’, which is possibly his last piece of theological writing. Its chief characteristic – as with all of Murray’s writings – lies in the way in which the text of Scripture suffuses everything he says. This concern to be thoroughly biblical applied also to his doctrine of Scripture, to Christology, and to his understanding of the proclamation of the gospel and the Christian ethic. Outstanding articles in each of these areas may be found in these pages.

Banner Trustees Discuss The Collected Writings of John Murray

The post Collected Writings of John Murray appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘One of the most precious of the peerless works of the Puritans, and those best acquainted with it prize it most.’ — C. H. Spurgeon

Book Description

In this book Thomas Watson continues his exposition of the Shorter Catechism drawn up by the Westminster Assembly. Watson was one of the most popular preachers in London during the Puritan era. His writings are characterized by clarity, raciness and spiritual richness. The series of three volumes, of which this is the second, makes an ideal introduction to Puritan literature.

There are few matters about which the Puritans differ more from present-day Christians than in their assessment of the importance of the ten commandments. The commandments, they held, are the first thing in Christianity which the natural man needs to be taught and they should be the daily concern of the Christian to the last.

In The Ten Commandments Watson examines the moral law as a whole as well as bringing out the meaning and force of each particular commandment. In view of the important function of the law in Christian life and evangelism this is a most valuable volume.

Table of Contents Expand ↓

The post The Ten Commandments appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

Few figures have dominated the character of a nation’s life as John Knox has influenced the history of Scotland. In this remarkable work, originally dictated to his secretaries between 1559 and 1571, John Knox tells the story of his times and the progress of the Reformation in Scotland. These pages breathe the sense of excitement and expectation possible only to an eye-witness and participant in the unfolding drama of the Reformation in 16th century Scotland.

John Knox was incapable of writing history in a detached fashion, merely as a catalogue of events, or even as a tracking down of causes and effects. The days through which he lived were full of the signs of the work of God. So, he said: ‘We write that the posterity to come may understand how patiently God wrought in preserving and delivering those that had but a small knowledge of the truth, and for the love of the same hazarded all’.

This edition of Knox’s history of the Reformation was edited, abridged, and modernised for 19th-century readers by C.J. Guthrie.

Table of Contents Expand ↓

The post The History of The Reformation In Scotland appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

All over the world in the most diverse situations are to be found Christian men and women who owe an incalculable debt to the ministry of Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones who for thirty years was the minister of Westminster Chapel, London. His longest series of expositions was this 14 volume set of Romans, the greatest of New Testament Epistles. Just as Lloyd-Jones’ public ministry stood out as widely different from contemporary preaching, so his Romans came into bookshops with an appeal that took many by surprise. Not a few thought that the nature of his pulpit ministry would inhibit its continuance on paper — ‘He needed to be heard, not read.’ But those of that opinion were mistaking where his real strength lay. First of all, it lay in the truth he was speaking, not in its delivery. Further, his whole view of preaching meant that he addressed himself to the heart and conscience, as well as to the mind, and sermonic material of that kind has never failed to hold readers as well as hearers. Time was to prove that his message would reach far larger numbers by his books than had ever been possible even in his widespread ministry. The books would also go into any languages and his Romans would be read by thousands, in nations from Brazil to Korea.

The post Romans appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

One of the first books published by the Trust, this has been one of the best sellers and consistently the most useful and influential of our publications. There are several reasons for this:

1. The subject of the book. It deals with the foremost doctrinal and experimental truths of the Christian Faith.
2. The means of instruction used. It is based on the Westminster Assembly’s Shorter Catechism, in which the main principles of Christianity that lie scattered in the Scriptures are brought together and set forth in the form of question and answer. This Catechism is unsurpassed for its ‘terse exactitude of definition’ and ‘logical elaboration’ of the fundamentals.
3. The style of the author. Watson conveys his thorough doctrinal and experimental knowledge of the truth in such an original, concise, pithy, pungent, racy, rich and illustrative style that he is rightly regarded as the most readable of the Puritans.

Table of Contents Expand ↓

The post A Body of Divinity appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

Book Description

Professor Berkhof died in 1957, at the age of 83. He was an outstanding American teacher and the author of some 22 books. After two pastorates, he began his long career as professor at Calvin Seminary, Grand Rapids, in 1906. Here he remained for 38 years, devoting his talents and immense stores of knowledge to the training of men for the ministry. His ‘Systematic Theology’ was his magnum opus, being revised and enlarged during his lifetime until it reached its present final form.

Berkhof’s loyalty to the well-defined lines of the Reformed Faith, his concise and compact style and his up-to-date treatment have made this work the most important twentieth century compendium of Reformed Theology. ‘The work seemed particularly important to me’, writes the author, ‘in view of the widespread doctrinal indifference of the present day, of the resulting superficiality and confusion in the minds of many professing Christians, of the insidious errors that are zealously propagated even from the pulpits, and of the alarming increase of all kinds of sects. If there ever was a time when the Church ought to guard her precious heritage, the deposit of the truth that was entrusted to her care, that time is now’.

Table of Contents Expand ↓

The post Systematic Theology appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘We commend the Outlines of Theology to all who would be well instructed in the faith. It is the standard textbook of our college. We differ from its teachings upon baptism, but in almost everything else we endorse Hodge to the letter’. — C. H. SPURGEON

Book Description

A. A. Hodge, son of Charles Hodge, first issued this, his best-known work, in 1860- following three years’ missionary work in India and eleven in American pastorates. Enlarged and revised, it was reprinted in its final form in 1878 when the younger Hodge had reached his full maturity and entered upon his eight memorable years’ teaching at Princeton. As a masterful condensation, not only of what had been taught at Princeton Seminary for more than sixty years but of the doctrinal positions of historic Christianity itself, the Outlines earned for the author the description given him by Dr. Shedd, ‘the populariser of scientific theology’. ‘It will be difficult’, wrote another contemporary, ‘to find a work of the same size where so much theology is so clearly presented, and at once so briefly and so interestingly discussed’. Yet A. A. Hodge was more than an able condenser, he was  himself one of the great theologians of the world, possessed–as W. M. Paxton declared at his death–of some of the sublimities of genius, ‘the mighty elements of great thinking’.

Speaking of his aim as a teacher of theology, the author once wrote, ‘I would pray and labour that in gaining breadth we may not lose height, and in gaining peace and love we may not lose purity and truth’.

Table of Contents Expand ↓

The post Outlines of Theology appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘This is one of the best and most profitable volumes ever published. The memoir of such a man ought surely to be in the hands of every Christian and certainly every preacher of the Gospel.’ — C.H. SPURGEON

‘Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s biography written by his friend Andrew Bonar is one of my most treasured possessions and has been a companion throughout almost all of my Christian life. M’Cheyne died when he was twenty nine, but his life story has been for me personally a model of grace, and his ministry pattern a model for service. It is a book every young Christian man should read—more than once.’ — SINCLAIR B. FERGUSON

‘In living and dying in the morning of life, M’Cheyne kissed the Rose and felt the thorn. His supreme joy was to know Christ. He lived in fellowship with Jesus through the word and prayer. And the thorn of his suffering intensified and purified that fellowship so that we are still being inspired by it 168 years later.’ — JOHN PIPER

‘One of the top ten books in the world…I just love this book. M’Cheyne’s sermons are model sermons for preaching even today…the memoir by Bonar [is] incredible spiritual material, and your soul will be fed and refreshed and nourished a great deal. A wonderful, wonderful memoir.’ — JOEL BEEKE

Book Description

Few books have been better loved than the Memoir and Remains of Robert Murray M’Cheyne. Its circulation underlines this. First published in 1844, within twenty-five years it went through one hundred and sixteen English editions. In 1910 it was estimated that, including translations into other languages, not less than half a million copies were in circulation. Few books have had such a widespread influence on the lives of God’s people. Testimonies to its usefulness were received from many lands and Christians of differing theological persuasions have testified to the blessing experienced through reading it.

Few books contain such variety and wealth of spiritual matter between their covers. As well as the life covering 174 pages, the work contains a good selection of letters, sermons, other writings and sacred songs.

Table of Contents Expand ↓

The post Memoir & Remains of Robert Murray M‘Cheyne appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘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

‘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.’– SINCLAIR B. FERGUSON

Book Description

These letters will ever be precious to all who are sensible of their own, and the Church’s decay and corruptions– The wound and the cure are therein so fully opened out: self is exposed, specially spiritual self. He will tell you, ‘There is as much need to watch over grace, as to watch over sin.’ He will show you God in Christ, to fill up the place usurped by self. The subtleties of sin, idols, snares, temptations, self-deceptions, are dragged into view from time to time. And what is better still, the cords of Christ are twined round the roots of these bitter plants, that they may be plucked up. Nor is it otherwise in regard to corruption in public, and in the Church. We do not mean merely the open corruption of error, but also the secret ‘gray hairs’ of decay. Hear him cry, ‘There is universal deadness on that fear of God. O where are the sometime quickening breathings and influences from heaven that have refreshed His hidden ones!’ And then he laments, in the name of the saints, ‘We are half satisfied with out witherdness; nor have we as much of his strain who doth eight times breathe out that suit, Quicken me!’ ‘We live far from the well, and complain but dryly of our dryness.’- Andrew Bonar

• Commendation from Ben Ramsbottom

Table of Contents Expand ↓

The post Letters of Samuel Rutherford appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘In few writers are christian doctrine, experience and practice more happily balanced than in the author of these Letters, and few write with more simplicity, piety and force.’ — C.H. SPURGEON

‘When thousands have derived repeated profit and pleAsure from the perusal of these utterances of the heart! Nor ever will they cease to be found means of grace whilst God has a church on earth.’ — WILLIAM JAY

Book Description

John Newton converted slave-trader, preacher, and hymn-writer, was one of the most colourful figures in the Evangelical Awakening of the eighteenth century. ‘Once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa,’ he wrote for this epitaph, ‘by rich mercy of Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long laboured to destroy.’

It was through his prolific correspondence that Newton fulfilled his distinctive word as ‘the letter-writer parexcellence of the Evangelical Revival‘. His grasp of Scripture and deep personal experience of the ‘amazing grace’ of God, his many friends (among them, Whitefield, Cowper and Wilberforce), his manifold trials, his country pastorate, his strong, clear, idiomatic style- all these factors combined to prepare the author of How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds, for the exercise of his special gift.

These letters, selected by his biographer, Josiah Bull, bear the practical imprint of all of Newton’s writings; they cover a wide variety of subjects and aim ‘to conform the believer to Christ’. Among them are several that were not previously published in earlier collections of his correspondence. Of particular value and interest are the biographical sketches and historical notes supplied by the editor.

Table of Contents Expand ↓

Reviews

• Review by David Campbell
• Review by Byron Snapp

The post Letters of John Newton appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

While C.H. Spurgeon is still remembered as being the most popular preacher of the Victorian era, it has generally been forgotten that the influence he exercised on fellow ministers and theological students was possibly an even greater factor in his life than his own personal ministry. That he organized a college, supervised the training of some 845 students, presided at an annual conference of ministers, and regarded all this as his ‘life’s labour and delight’ are facts that are little known today.

Spurgeon’s Lectures to my Students, contain the substance of Spurgeon’s regular Friday afternoon addresses to the college students. This new complete and unabridged Banner edition, which as been newly typeset, contains all the lectures in the original first and second series, including The Minister’s Self-Watch, The Preacher’s Private Prayer, The Minister’s Fainting Fits, The Holy Spirit in Connection with our Ministry, The Need of Decision for the Truth, and On Conversion as our Aim. Also included is a third series of lectures, originally published as The Art of Illustration, which focuses on the nature, use, and sources of illustrations and anecdotes in preaching. To make this new edition as complete as possible, the publishers have also included Spurgeon’s Commenting and Commentaries, which contains two further lectures and a fascinating and often humorously annotated catalogue of commentaries. This catalogue, compiled by Spurgeon after a review of some three to four thousand volumes, is anything but dull: calculated to produce enthusiasts for books, it also opens up a new world by its well placed signposts to the riches of the past.

Table of Contents Expand ↓

The post Lectures to My Students appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘This book has been my companion for almost fifty years. First published in 1830, it is arguably more needed now than then. It is a classic, serving as a guide to all who are aware of the perils and privileges of pastoral ministry.’ — ALISTAIR BEGG

‘People ask me, “What’s the very best book for Ministers?” Overall for the ministry, and for passionate preaching, and how to preach to different kinds of people – there’s nothing like The Christian Ministry.’ — JOEL BEEKE

Book Description

The revival of the Church seems to be closely connected with the condition of its ministry. Bridges sub-titled the study of the Christian Ministry, ‘An Inquiry into the Causes of its Inefficiency’, and, rightly used, it is well suited to promote a faithful and effective ministry.

The Christian Ministry is Bridges’ best known literary work, but his expositions of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Psalm 119 are also highly valued.

Bridges begins by considering the general and personal cause of ministerial ineffectiveness, and goes on to examine comprehensively preaching and pastoral work. This book was one of the few which the godly Robert Murray M’Cheyne took with him to the Holy Land, and, in its field, it is without an equal.

‘To enlighten the mind and affect the heart are the two main ends of the Christian ministry. The first demands wisdom and plainness, the second fervency, as the spirit of scriptural preaching. This combination exhibits the minister as “a burning and a shining light” … imparting the spiritual light of divine truth, as well as the spiritual heat of divine fervour … Nothing, says Baxter, is more indecent than a dead preacher speaking to dead sinners the living truth of the living God.’–  CHARLES BRIDGES, in The Christian Ministry, p. 318.

Table of Contents Expand ↓

Review

• Review by Joey Cochran

The post The Christian Ministry appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘If I might read only one book beside the Bible, I would choose The Christian in Complete Armour.’ — JOHN NEWTON

‘Gurnall’s work is peerless and priceless; every line is full of wisdom; every sentence is suggestive. The whole book has been preached over scores of times, and is, in our judgment, the best thought-breeder in all our library.’ — C.H. SPURGEON

‘You will often find in a line and a half some great truth, put so concisely, and yet so fully, that you really marvel how so much thought could be got into so few words.’ — J.C. RYLE

Book Description

Gurnall’s Christian in Complete Armour, certainly one of the greatest of all the Puritan’s practical writings, has been many times republished, but the best edition remains that of 1864, with an Introduction by J.C. Ryle. It is this unabridged edition which is now reprinted.

This Complete Armour is beyond all others a preacher’s book: I should think that more discourses have been suggested by it than by any other uninspired volume. I have often resorted to it when my own fire has been burning low, and I have seldom failed to find a glowing coal upon Gurnall’s hearth. John Newton said that if he might read only one book beside the Bible, he would choose The Christian in Complete Armour, and Richard Cecil was of much the same opinion.

The post Christian In Complete Armour appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘Andrew Bonar’s name will forever be associated with his moving biography of his great friend Robert Murray M’Cheyne. His Diary and Life breathes the same spirit. It is one of the most helpful accounts in all Christian literature of a man who lived in communion with God. There are so many valuable books to read, but I wish every minister of the gospel in the world would read this one.’ — SINCLAIR B. FERGUSON

‘Best known as the biographer of M’Cheyne, Bonar’s own life and ministry, bathed in prayer and blessed with recurring revivals, deserve to be known in their own right. The volume cannot but stir devotion to Christ and zeal to serve him.’ — EVANGELICAL TIMES

Book Description

The Diary and Life of Andrew Bonar (1810-92) gives a panoramic view of one of the most fascinating periods of Scotland’s church history. But first and foremost it is the record of God’s work in the life of a man who represented all that was finest in the evangelical life of that country.

Pupil of Thomas Chalmers, friend of Robert Murray M’Cheyne, participant in the revivals of 1839 and 1859, faithful witness against the inroads of ‘Higher Criticism’, Bonar’s name because highly esteemed far beyond the borders of his own church. Yet his life-long concern was communion with God and his diary discloses that hidden yet most helpful aspect of his witness.

Convinced, like M’Cheyne, that ‘it is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus’ and that ‘unholiness lies at the root of our little success’, Andrew Bonar sought to press further and further into the presence of God.  He knew that ‘one of the gravest perils which besets the ministry is a restless scattering of energies over an amazing multiplicity of interests which leaves no margin of time and of strength for receptive and absorbing communion with God’. Consequently prayer, meditation, and Bible study were for him the chief work of every day.

The post Andrew Bonar appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.