Power in the Pulpit, Henry C. Fish

If there is a means more likely than any other under the Holy Spirit to bring about reformation and revival of true religion, it is the gift of powerful preachers. The object of the author in this booklet is to ascertain what, in its human aspect, are the conditions of power in the pulpit, and in so doing he deals with the matter of the sermon, the manner in which it should be delivered, and the character of the preacher.

Booklet, 32 pages. (RP £1.50).

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A re-cast, condensed and, in parts, re-written version of the author’s two volumes D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The First Forty Years (1982) and The Fight of Faith (1990). Since those dates, the life of Dr Lloyd-Jones has been the subject of comment and assessment in many publications and these have been taken into account. The main purpose of this further biography, however, is to put Dr Lloyd-Jones’ life before another generation in more accessible form. The big story is all here. (Paperback, RP £11.00).

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Today many Christians have lost confidence in preaching and have replaced it with other things such as dialogue, films, dancing, and dramatic presentations. ‘Do we need preaching today?’ is a question often asked in many churches. John Cheeseman takes up this question and argues that the church must maintain the priority of preaching for both biblical and theological reasons. He then proceeds to offer helpful instruction and advice on the practical matters of preparing and delivering sermons, before finally turning his attention to the vitally important subject of the character of the preacher. This booklet is an excellent primer for all young men who believe that God may be calling them to become preachers of his Word. Booklet, 32 pages. (RP £1.50).

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There are two intended audiences for discourses on the Christian ministry: the pastor or elder who cares for the church, and his congregation who are called to willing and prayerful submission. In Gospel Ministry, a collection of nine sermons delivered in his fruitful later years, John Owen addresses both.

Whether expounding the role of the Holy Spirit in shaping the ministry, presenting the purposes of the church, savouring God’s care of his people, or warning against being ashamed of the gospel, Owen’s teaching is invaluable for any minister – or member – of the body of Christ.

This book is complemented by its companion volume, Gospel Life, which beautifully sets forth the foundational steps of faith in Christ, assurance, and humble walking with him.

N.B. The sermons in this volume have been selected from The Works of John Owen, Volume 9, and modernised.

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The church is not yours or mine. It belongs to Jesus Christ. The church is graciously called into being by him for the glory and honour of God’s name. As such, every local church must reflect God’s character and display God’s holiness. For that reason, life in a healthy, happy church always involves discipline—the thoughtful, deliberate, loving investment of each member in all the others for the glory of God and the good of the whole congregation.

Grievously, life in a fallen world means that sin creeps into and breaks out in the church of Jesus Christ. What ought a church to do when sin is uncovered in her midst? How do we respond in a way that shows our love to God and to one another? How do you love someone within the professing church who is unrepentantly sinning against God?

Such questions are often answered carelessly, fearfully, pragmatically, even unrighteously. When that is the case, it typically leads to disturbing confusion, advancing tension, increasing division, and even destruction. Further sin can erupt if offences are not faced humbly and graciously, if unrepentant sin is not addressed righteously and courageously.

Mercifully, the Head of the church has not left us in the dark. He teaches us how to sail through troubled waters so that we are not left in disarray after the storm has struck. He provides clear, wise, and effective commands and counsels for his people.

This booklet summarises the principles and the practices Christ has given for the holiness of his church. It sketches out the assumptions that lie behind church discipline, grounded in the identity of the church and activity of the church of God. It speaks to the nature of church discipline, in its more positive and negative aspects. It identifies love as the primary motive behind any discipline in the church. It looks at the God-ordained purposes of corrective discipline, and the reasons why a church might have to pursue this course. It offers practical advice as to how such discipline ought to be carried out in the church of Jesus Christ. It touches on both the necessary sting and the desired success of those actions by the church. It calls the whole church and her officers to consider our duty to act when the purity and peace of the church of God is threatened by unrepentant sin.

If the church is the household of God, if it is the body of Jesus Christ, if it is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, then we are called to be holy. We need to know how to pursue that calling as those committed to fidelity in our doctrine, purity in our life, and unity in our fellowship.

Author bio:

Jeremy Walker is the pastor of Maidenbower Baptist Church in Crawley, England. He also serves as the Book Reviews Editor of the Banner of Truth magazine.

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A man of good scholarship, sterling character, wide sympathies, and tremendous zeal, J. C. Ryle accounted it no light thing to be entrusted with the work of organizing and advancing the cause of God and truth in a diocese noted for its extensive industrial development and in a city of world fame. As a man of God he gave unfeigned allegiance to the plenary inspiration of Holy Scripture. Linked with this was his determination to strive for the maintenance of the Protestant character of the Church of England as by law established in the days of the sixteenth-century Reformation. Doctrine, experience, and practice based upon and shaped by the pure word of God were to him the essentials of the ongoing life of the Church.

In the Liverpool Diocese Ryle faced a formidable task. Called to it at the age of sixty-five, Ryle laboured in season and out of season with untiring pertinacity. To present-day readers he will chiefly be known through his expository and biographical writings. The Charges and Addresses here brought together show how he laboured to educate the clergy of his diocese in biblical principles and to impress upon them the vast importance if maintaining evangelical doctrine and practice in their varied ministries and contacts.

In England Ryle stands in the foremost rank of those who have held forth the word of life and fought the good fight of faith. He is one of the Lord’s standard-bearers of the late Victorian age. The ‘healthful spirit of God’s grace’ was upon him. Being dead he continues to speak to our backslidden generation.

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David F. Wells of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Massachusetts, here challenges evangelicalism with a disturbing analysis of its present condition. He believes that we have allowed ourselves to be shaped by the popular culture whose ethos is alien to God-consciousness, to ‘other-worldliness’, and to passion for biblical truth. In putting ‘success’ before theology we have produced a plague of nominal evangelicalism which, unless reversed, leaves us ‘headed towards the oblivion of irrelevance before God’.

This material was first delivered at a Convention of the National Association of Evangelicals who have kindly assisted in the publication. Much fuller treatment of the same themes will be found in the author’s influential books, No Place for Truth and God in the Wasteland. While referring especially to the North American scene, the wider relevance of Dr Wells’ message is indicated by the fact that these two titles have joint publishers on both sides of the Atlantic, W.B. Eerdmans and IVP.

‘What is most lost is what most needs to be recovered. It is the unsettling, disconcerting, moral presence of God in our midst. He can no longer be the junior partner in our religious enterprises and he can never be just an ornamental decoration upon our Church life. It is because God now rests so inconsequentially upon the Church that the Church is free to plot and to devise its success in its own way. That is why so many of our forebears in the faith would scarcely even recognize us as their children today.’

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Written by faculty and friends of Old Princeton, with an introduction by Sinclair B. Ferguson.

The authors included in this small clothbound collection:

William S. Plumer (1802-80)
J. W. Alexander (1804-59)
Archibald Alexander (1771-1851)
Charles Hodge (1797-78)
Samuel Miller (1769-1850)
Ashbel Green (1762-1848)
Nicholas Murray (1802-61)

The authors of The Pastor: His Call, Character, and Work were all men closely associated, either as students, professors, or in one case a director, with Princeton Theological Seminary, which was established in 1812 by the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America. It was founded as a ‘nursery of vital piety as well as of sound theological learning…to train up persons for the ministry who shall be lovers as well as defenders of the truth as it is in Jesus, friends of revivals of religion, and a blessing to the church of God.’

A sample of the Princeton view of the ministry is contained in this little volume. Taken together its chapters form a small instruction manual on the key elements in the work of a minister of the gospel in any age and place.

These pages combine theological acumen, a high sense of purpose, a vision of the privileges of serving Christ, and a recalibration of our whole vision for ministry.

The chapters in this book have been selected from the two-volume Princeton and the Work of the Christian Ministry, also published by the Banner of Truth.

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One of Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s most significant ministries was to the hundreds of preachers who were trained in the Pastors’ College which he founded. In 1865 he began an Annual Conference for these men at which he customarily delivered a presidential address. The most outstanding of these were reprinted after his death in the form of this book. While Spurgeon is always both stimulating and challenging, the context in which these addresses were given brought the best out of him and gave them a unique quality. Full of biblical exposition, they also sparkle with a delightful wit. Here is Spurgeon at his finest as a man with a pastoral heart par excellence. An All-Round Ministry is a work to which Christian ministers and leaders will return again and again for direction, wisdom, and encouragement.

‘As the Lord shall help us, let us lay our all upon the altar, and only breathe for him….Because we belong to Christ, the zeal of the Lord’s house must eat us up. I wish I could have spoken to you with all my strength, but it may be that my weakness may be used of God to greater purpose. My thoughts are few by reason of pain, which disorders my head; but they are all on fire, for my heart remains true to my Lord, to his gospel, and to you. May he use every man of us to the utmost of our capacity for being used, and glorify himself by our health and our sickness, our life and our death!’

— Spurgeon, in his address ‘What We Would Be’, delivered during illness at the Pastors’ College Annual Meeting in 1886.

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REVIEWS

• Reflections by Adrian Reynolds (FIEC)

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By April 1891, when Spurgeon addressed the annual conference of the Pastors’ College for the last time, he was an experienced and battle-worn soldier.

Spurgeon considered it the life-work of a pastor to be engaged in a crusade against error and sin. He fully appreciated what it was to ‘fight the good fight of faith’. In The Greatest Fight in the World, this final annual address to his fellow pastors and Pastors’ College students, Spurgeon offers practical advice on how to approach the battle. He does so under three martial metaphors: Our Armoury (the Scriptures); Our Army (the church); and Our Strength (the Holy Spirit).

The Greatest Fight in the World is a book for every pastor. It will stimulate and inspire an approach to the pastoral task which is orderly and intelligent, and which above all recognises and has confidence in the God from whom the strength to engage in battle comes.

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Christ was not a boring preacher! ‘How wonderful it would be,’ says Stuart Olyott in the introduction to this book, ‘if Christian preachers throughout the world were ministering like their Master!’ Drawing on examples of Christ’s preaching from the Gospels, Olyott challenges preachers today with three features of their Master’s ministry. Christ’s style and method were not boring, but gripping. Christ’s preaching was evangelistic. Christ’s ministry was more than just preaching: his whole life was ministry. In a fresh, compelling and practical way, Olyott guides preachers away from some of the perils and pitfalls that could hinder their success. In so doing, he shows us just how essential Christ’s example is to those who seek to minister in his name today.

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Reviews

• Review by David Sprouse
• Review by Bob Thomas (see page 16)

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‘Here are first principles for those who wonder if they are being called to the ministry, guidance for those in training, and wisdom for those already engaged in the work. That Preparation for Ministry comes from the desk of Allan Harman—Pastor, Professor, and Principal—is all the recommendation it needs. First class!’ — SINCLAIR B. FERGUSON

Book Description

Preparation For Ministry deals with important issues relating to a call to the Christian ministry, theological training, and entry into pastoral work.

The author has written it out of his own rich experience as a student, a pastor, and a seminary teacher. Those contemplating entry into the Christian ministry will benefit greatly from his practical advice on such subjects as coming to faith, the call to the ministry, pre-theological study, and choosing a theological college or seminary.

Those already in theological training or who have recently entered into ministry will also find much to help them within these pages on such topics as the theological course, early ministry, and staying fresh.

A brief bibliography is provided, and the book also contains useful appendices, including:

• a guide to preparatory reading
• a short guide to sermon preparation
• C. H. Spurgeon’s The Minister’s Self-Watch
• B. B. Warfield’s The Religious Life of Theological Students

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REVIEW

• Review by Terry Delaney
• Review by Carl Trueman
• Review by Bob Thomas

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If there is a means more likely than any other under the Holy Spirit to bring about reformation and revival of true religion, it is the gift of powerful preachers. The object of the author in this booklet is to ascertain what, in its human aspect, are the conditions of power in the pulpit, and in so doing he deals with the matter of the sermon, the manner in which it should be delivered, and the character of the preacher.

Review

• Review by Alan Hill

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‘These sermons that Edmund Calamy put together, about the Great Ejection, 1662, are powerful sermons. These are pastors, choosing to be on the last day of their ministry, because they can’t in good conscience affirm everything in The Book of Common Prayer, who resign their jobs, lose their livings, generally had to move away from where they were to be faithful — these are their final sermons to their congregations — moving, moving sermons.’ — MARK DEVER

Book Description

A fine introduction to Puritan preaching, this little book also recalls one of the great turning points in English Christianity—for these sermons were preached on ‘the Farewell Sunday’ in August, 1662, when two thousand ministers left the national Church for conscience’ sake. Much has been written on that Great Ejection, but nothing is more important than to hear the ejected speak for themselves. Their watchword was:

I preach as never sure to preach again,
And as a dying man to dying men.

This new edition of Sermons of the Great Ejection not only commemorates the 350th anniversary of a noteworthy historical event but, more importantly, gives a real insight into the theology, godliness, and preaching of the Puritans. Why is this relevant? For two reasons: (i) as the blurb on the first edition said, ‘such preaching could set England alight again in our own times’; and (ii) the issues of 1662 are directly relevant to the present situation in the church when the emphasis is once again upon conformity and unity at the expense of truth and holiness. May this little book be an encouragement to men of gospel truth and integrity everywhere.

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Reviews

• Review by David Burke
• Review by David Campbell
• Review by Alan Hill

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¿Qué recomienda usted por lo que se refiere a la predicación?’ es una pregunta que suele hacerse con frecuencia y que puede responderse de diversas maneras. Siempre hay mucho que aprender en este asunto, y existen muchos libros que nos pueden ayudar a lograrlo. Pero, independientemente del resto de cosas que lea el predicador, esta pequeña obra maestra de J.C. Ryle, Sencillez en la predicación, es de ‘lectura obligada’. Ryle condensa más experiencia y sentido común santificado en poco más de dos docenas de páginas de lo que muchos otros consiguen en un largisimo tratado. Y, como toda su obra, este librito es un ejemplo de esa misma sencillez que el autor recomienda a los demás. En nuestras manos tenemos, de hecho, una obra cuyo valor y utilidad superan con creces su extensión. Sinclair B. Ferguson

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Una de las organizaciones fundadas por Charles Spurgeon fue el Pastor’s College (1856), que después adoptaría el nombre de Spurgeon College. Fue alli donde en 1865 inició unas conferencias anuales para pastores, doce de las cuales componen este libro. Spurgeon fue un evangelista que llevó a miles de personas a los pies del Señor, pero también le preocupó la etapa postevangelística: la edificación de la iglesia. Si hoy presenciamos una terrible decadencia en la labor pastoral es porque se ha descuidado tanto el carácter como el mensaje del pastor. Este libro proporcionará al ministro una guía fundamental para conducir su ministerio por la senda correcta.

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The New Testament leaves us in no doubt that the heart of the preaching of the Apostles and the early church was Christ. Every example of preaching from the apostolic era centers on this same grand theme. Yet so often, in the centuries since, the church has weakened her own witness and effectiveness by veering away from the apostolic example. How did the Apostles preach Christ? What mistakes must preachers today avoid? What is involved in preaching Christ? And what are the essential qualifications of heart and mind for this great work? These are the questions Bishop Charles P. McIlvaine set out to answer in this address to those entering the ministry.

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‘Glorious’ is probably the last adjective most modern writers would use to describe the Christian Church. Yet R. B. Kuiper chose his title, The Glorious Body of Christ, advisedly, for he wished to emphasize what he believed to be a sadly neglected aspect of the subject, that the Church of Christ is glorious.

Dr. Kuiper, who died in 1966, was for many decades a teacher of theology, and his great concern was for the popular presentation of Christian doctrine. His own books went far to meet that need, including his God-Centred Evangelism (also published by the Trust) and For Whom Did Christ Die? on the extent of the atonement.

In addition to his vigorous and clear style, Kuiper is also noted for the comprehensive way in which he treats his subject. The Glorious Body contains no less than fifty-three chapters, and among the aspects of the subject dealt with are unity, the marks of the Church, the offices of the Church, its responsibilities and privileges, and the Church and the world.

Although this book is worthy of the widest possible circulation, it may be particularly commended as a manual for office-bearers in the Church.

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At first sight the word ‘liberalism’ does not seem threatening in any way. Quite the reverse, it is often associated with ideas like ‘democracy’, ‘freedom’ and ‘generosity of spirit’. However, there is something quite sinister about ‘theological liberalism’; although not a well-defined term, it usually refers to a belief system which rejects the orthodox view of the Christian faith as set out in the Bible, and summarized in the church’s historic creeds and confessions.

This book traces the origins and development of theological liberalism and convincingly demonstrates what a dangerous and destructive thing it is to the Christian church. The author shows that a battle continues to rage today, not between two varieties of true Christianity, but between truth and error, light and darkness, good and evil.

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Review

• Review by Kenneth Macleod
• Review by Mary Bartholomew

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Linleigh Roberts shows how the biblical teaching on man serves as a gateway into the entire Christian message. Let Us Make Man is a fresh, biblical study of the nature of man – as God made him, as sin has marred him, and as God graciously remakes him through Christ. Man was made for God, to love and serve him. Created in God’s image, man has distorted it by his sin. Unmasking our false attempts to solve or avoid our ‘sin problem’, Linleigh Roberts shows how the Christian gospel alone provides the forgiveness and freedom man needs.

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‘This is an old but good book on ministry. The chapter on public prayer is worth the price. Leading in prayer is difficult, with the constant danger of either being too brief to be helpful and too long to be bearable. The advice in this book is very useful and will help ministers lead their congregants in prayer in a clear and godly manner.’– CARL TRUEMAN

‘The Ministry by Charles Brown can be read in a couple of hours but it is full of wise observations and counsels. The chapter on the pulpit prayers of preachers is particularly valuable.’– GEOFF THOMAS

Book Description

The life of the minister is the life of his ministry. It is to be deeply regretted that a low level of spiritual vitality greatly hinders the impact of even the most gifted ministries. Paul’s words to Timothy, ‘Take heed unto thyself’, continue to apply to all ministers of the gospel. Charles J. Brown was a man who took the Apostle’s words seriously. ‘An animated, incisive, and very spiritual preacher’, he was often asked to give addresses on the subject of pastoral ministry. This powerful little volume survives as a statement of what he saw as the essence of the gospel ministry preaching with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. Men of doctrinal earnestness, catholic spirit, tender hearts, and abiding prayerfulness, whose lips have been touched with a ‘live coal from off the altar’, have ever been the means of reviving the church and awakening the world. Only let the Christian ministry return to the apostolic rule of Acts 6:4 and the church will surely see brighter days.

Includes a biographical introduction by Iain H. Murray.

Review

• Review by Stephen Holland

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Ted Donnelly’s handling of biblical teaching is always marked by faithfulness, insight, wisdom and warmth. All of these qualities abound in this splendid exposition of Simon Peter’s life and ministry. It provides the rare combination of helpful, and at times, searching, instruction with the genuine Christian pleasure of discovering more about the grace of Jesus Christ.’ — SINCLAIR B. FERGUSON

‘In his consideration of Peter the Disciple, Ted Donnelly helps us to see the omnipotent and manifold grace of God at work, fashioning the rough-hewn Galilean fisherman into a polished instrument in the hands of the Master. In the contemplation of Peter the Preacher we are helped to see those principles which validate and illustrate the centrality of preaching in the purpose of God, and to consider the kind of preaching owned of God to the accomplishment of his saving purposes. Finally, in the examination of the biblical witness to Peter the Pastor we are led to consider what is involved in being a shepherd after God’s own heart.’ — ALBERT N. MARTIN

Book Description

Discipleship
Preaching
Pastoral care

The Apostle Peter was a major New Testament personality—a vivid, complex and well-rounded character. His leadership was decisive in the history of the church, and his teaching remains profound and compellingly up-to-date. So why is it that he has been undervalued by evangelicals for so long?

Christians, and Christian leaders in particular, can learn much from this man. Ted Donnelly’s portrait of the Apostle Peter lets us see him from three distinct angles. Firstly we see him discovering what it means to follow Jesus as a disciple. Then we see him as a powerful preacher, from whom we can learn important lessons about communicating the gospel to others. Lastly, we view him as a faithful pastor and observe what it is to be a true shepherd of the people of God.

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Review

• Review by Jeremy Walker

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‘To read the work of a Puritan doctor of the soul is to enter a rich world of spiritual theology to feed the mind, heart-searching analysis to probe the conscience, Christ-centred grace to transform the heart, and wise counsel to direct the life. This series of Pocket Puritans provides all this in miniature, but also in abundance.’– SINCLAIR B. FERGUSON

Book Description

In his constant warfare against the church the devil loves nothing better than to sow the seeds of discord and division. The Puritan Thomas Brooks lamented, ‘Our own woeful experience is too great a proof of this.’ How can we counter this devilish ploy? Brooks outlines a twelve-point action plan and teaches us that United We Stand, Divided We Fall is a fitting motto for every Christian soldier.

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Book Description

The nature and life of the church is one of the most crucial issues facing Christians in the closing years of the twentieth century. Questions of ministry and liturgy, authority and freedom, appear in a wide variety of guises throughout the world-wide church. Relativism and uncertainty seem to be as common in the church as in the world. Many Christians wonder whether there is any way forward.

In this context, The Reformation of the Church is an invaluable aid. An anthology of documents, drawn largely but not exclusively from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it presents in a readily accessible form the finest thinking of the reformed fathers on authority and freedom, the need for reformation, the nature of the government, unity and membership of the church of Jesus Christ.

Warmly welcomed when first published in 1965, and widely use since then, these documents provide invaluable material for ministers, elders, leaders, students and all Christians who are concerned to see Christ’s church fulfill her God-given role at a critical juncture in her history.

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‘A balanced, helpful and hopeful book.’– THE WITNESS

‘Probably one of the best, most scriptural books written today on the subject of demonology.’– PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL

Book Description

Leahy presents a lucid, biblical account of Christian teaching on such issues as the existence of angels – good and evil; the present position and strategy of Satan; the witness of Old and New Testament to demonic activity; the demonic in church history; and the challenge of the demons to the church of Christ, especially on the mission field. While taking our ‘adversary the devil’ seriously, Leahy constantly emphasizes the victory of Christ over him, and the fact that, in the words of John Calvin, ‘The whole of Satan’s kingdom is subject to the authority of Christ.’

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Reviews

• Review by Tim Challies

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Differences between much of today’s preaching and that of Jesus are not petty; they are enormous. The chief errors are not in emphasis or approach but in the heart of the gospel messages. Were there a deficiency in one of the areas mentioned in these pages, it would be serious. But to ignore all- the attributes of God, the holy law of God, repentance, a call to bow to the enthroned Christ, as well as a perversion of assurance- is the most deadly mistake.’

This powerfully written book has a message which goes to the heart of the contemporary problem in a way that conferences and commissions on evangelism have failed to do. Its expository approach is particularly valuable.

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Tom Wells writes with the conviction that when it comes to cross-cultural mission, Christians must come back to first principles. Human need and world conditions are not the starting point. The gospel is a call to know and worship God, and the primary conviction of the messenger must be that God is worthy to be known. The missionary vision must begin with the vision of God. Only then can the church truly respond to the command to ‘declare his glory among the nations.’

This is a challenging book, and equally relevant to Christians at home and abroad. It treats missionary endeavour not as a separate interest but as basic to Christianity itself. By reference to David Brainerd, William Carey, and Henry Martyn the author also shows the true inspiration which lay behind the missionary movement of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Author Biography

Tom Wells (1933–2019) was a preacher and writer based in West Chester, near Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, where he was for nearly thirty years the pastor of The King’s Chapel Reformed Baptist Church. He also authored Come to Me!, Christian: Take Heart!, A Price for a People, and The Moral Basis of Faith, also published by The Banner of Truth Trust.

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The pastoral visitation of the sick and sorrowful is a spiritual exercise. Its purpose is to bring God’s Word to those in need in the prayerful hope of the Spirit’s blessing upon it. Such visitation is not the preserve of pastors only; it is the duty of the whole church, as our Lord reminded his disciples with the words, ‘I was sick, and ye visited me’.

How we should visit the sick, and what we should say on our visits to them are the important matters addressed in this most useful book. Written by a spiritual giant of the nineteenth century church, the book contains much-needed advice and clear guidance. Bonar gathers together a great number of Bible verses that will prove eminently suitable for a wide range of individual cases. These selected scriptures are interspersed with the author’s own brief, spiritual, and helpful comments. Here then is a book that should be in the hands of every Christian visitor. It ought to be consulted prayerfully before embarking with God’s Word to the sick and sorrowful.

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The ambiguity and obscurity of statements from religious leaders today often confuse ordinary Christians. J.C. Ryle’s writings were of a different character. His outspoken comments can still help us towards clear Bible-based convictions.

The church’s doctrine and practice are in constant danger of being corrupted from their original divinely-given character. Seeing this, Ryle felt compelled to utter a warning, however controversial this might prove. As he observes, ‘There are times when controversy is…a benefit. Give me the mighty thunderstorm rather than the pestilential malaria. The one walks in darkness and poisons us in silence…The other frightens and alarms us for a little season. But it is soon over, and it clears the air’.

Strong convictions and clarity of expression always mark Ryle’s writings. Nowhere is this more evident than in the addresses and articles brought together as Warnings to the Churches.

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Reviews

• Review by Alan Hill

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After many years of leadership in the work of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones became deeply concerned with what he believed to be subtle but real shifts in commitment to the biblical gospel. His three addresses at the IFES Conference in 1971 drew attention to this. In them he indicated the reasons for his misgivings, gave an exposition of the true nature of evangelicalism and re-emphasised the foundation stones on which it was built.

These addresses lay unpublished for almost three decades. Today, thirty years later, much of what Dr. Lloyd-Jones emphasised then reads like a prophecy of the future direction evangelicals would take during the years that followed. His comments are as trenchantly relevant for the twenty-first century as they were for the 1970’s. If anything, his message is all the more urgent.

This material is extracted from ‘Knowing the Times‘, a selection of addresses by Dr. Lloyd-Jones during the years 1942-1977, also published by the Banner of Truth Trust.

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This book tells the heroic story of William Carey’s passionate advocacy of world mission. While the details of his missionary work in India are familiar, what is less well-known is the earlier story of how almost single-handedly he put world mission at the heart of the church’s concern for a fallen world. It is for this that he is often referred to as ‘the father of modern missions’.

The single most urgent need of our world is to hear the gospel of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. Daniel Webber, former Director of the European Missionary Fellowship, is concerned that the church is in danger of losing sight of the primacy of this particular responsibility. In an age in which media and celebrity attention counts for so much, too often the church seems mesmerised by the world’s agenda. The example of William Carey – who was far from being unconcerned about the world’s general plight – may yet have the power both to clarify our vision and arouse our compassion in favour of the ultimate needs of mankind.

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Few things are more evident in contemporary churches than the decline in the importance attached to what is said from their pulpits. The deeper tragedy is that in many places the church has become a valley of dry bones. Something is needed to waken the dead and to breathe new life into the people of God. William Perkins (1558-1602) provides basic guidance to help all Christians to read and use the Bible intelligently. He has a particularly powerful message for those who lead God’s people and especially those who preach.

The Art of Prophesying carries sparks capable of igniting a preacher. It should be beside every minister’s desk as a book to turn to again and again.

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Review

• Review by Terry Delaney.

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‘…A staple classic…you absolutely must have it. The passion, the love, for the souls of your people; this is the type of book you want to read once a year.’ — JOEL BEEKE

Book Description

Richard Baxter was vicar of Kidderminster from 1647 to 1661. In an introduction to this reprint, Dr. J.I. Packer describes him as ‘the most outstanding pastor, evangelist and writer on practical and devotional themes that Puritanism produced’. His ministry transformed the people of Kidderminster from ‘an ignorant, rude and revelling people’ to a godly, worshipping community. These pages, first prepared for a Worcestershire association of ministers in 1656, deal with the means by which such changes are ever to be accomplished. In his fervent plea for the discharge of the spiritual obligations of the ministry, Baxter, in the words of his contemporary, Thomas Manton, ‘came nearer the apostolic writings than any man in the age’. A century later Philip Doddridge wrote, ‘The Reformed Pastor is a most extraordinary book…many good men are but shadows of what (by the blessing of God) they might be, if the maxims and measures laid down in that incomparable Treatise were strenuously pursued’.

Today, Baxter’s principles, drawn from Scripture, and reapplied in terms of modern circumstances, will provide both ministers and other Christians with challenge, direction and help.

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‘To read the work of a Puritan doctor of the soul is to enter a rich world of spiritual theology to feed the mind, heart-searching analysis to probe the conscience, Christ-centred grace to transform the heart, and wise counsel to direct the life. This series of Pocket Puritans provides all this in miniature, but also in abundance.’– SINCLAIR B. FERGUSON

Book Description

Drawn from Baxter’s famous work, The Reformed Pastor, and arranged topically as a month’s supply of brief daily readings, the maxims and meditations in this little book will not only challenge but encourage the gospel minister to pay careful attention to himself and to the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made him an overseer (Acts 20:28). With an introduction by J.I. Packer.

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‘Pastors, elders, and seminary students will be inspired and challenged by these books, scholars of Princeton history will find these volumes instructive and insightful. And anyone who loves the church and wants to see it at its best will be encouraged and blessed.’– DAVID B. CALHOUN

Book Description

Established in 1812 by the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, Princeton Theological Seminary was founded as ‘a nursery of vital piety as well as of sound theological learning … to train up persons for the ministry who shall be lovers as well as defenders of the truth as it is in Jesus, friends of revivals of religion, and a blessing to the church of God.’

Committed to the cultivation of ‘vital piety’ and ‘sound theological learning’, the seminary’s founders intended to graduate pious and learned men equally committed to biblical principles of pastoral leadership, preaching, and the confessional convictions of Presbyterian church polity.

Providing a cross-section of sermons, articles, and essays Princeton and the Work of the Christian Ministry brings together for the first time in a single collection a number of valuable out-of-print pieces which highlight the doctrinal convictions that informed and shaped the seminary’s training of men in preparation for Christian service in ministry and mission.

Rooted in the rich confessional heritage that emerged out of the Reformed and Calvinistic branch of the Protestant Reformation, the Princetonians’ profound grasp of Scripture, understanding of the human heart, and devout churchmanship remain of continuing value in providing a biblically-grounded theology of ministry for pastors, teachers, and missionary leaders in today’s churches.

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Reviews

• Review by Gary Steward
• Review by Barry Shucksmith
• Review by Allan MacColl
• Review by David Blunt
• Review by Greg Goswell

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‘Las diferencias entre la mayoria del evangelio que se predica hoy y el de Jesus no son menores; son enormes. Los errores principales no son en el enfasis o en el enfoque sino en el mensaje central del Evangelio. Si hay deficiencia en alguna de las areas mencionadas en estas paginas es asunto serio. Pero ignorar todos – los atributos de Dios, la santa ley de Dios, arrepentimiento, el llamado al sometimiento del senorio de Cristo – o pervertir la doctrina de la seguridad, es un crucial error’.

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Estas páginas, preparadas originalmente para la reunión de una asociación de ministros de Worcestershire en 1656, tratan los medios por los cuales se pueden efectuar tales cambios. En su ruego ferviente para que los pastores desempeñaran sus obligaciones espirituales. Baxter, en palabras de su contemporáneo Thomas Manton, “se acercó más a los escritos apostólicos que ningún otro hombre de su época”. Un siglo después, Philip Doddridge escribió, ‘El pastor renovado es un documento extraordinario {…} muchos hombres buenos son meras sombras de lo que – con la bendeción de Dios – podrían ser, si las máximas y medidas expuestas en este tratado incomparable se persiguieran rigurosamente’.

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¡Cristo no fue un predicador aburrido! ‘¡Qué maravilloso sería- dice Stuart Olyott en la introducción de este libro – que los predicadores cristianos de todo el mundo estuvieran ministrando como su Maestro!’… Utilizando ejemplos de la predicación de Cristo en los Evangelios, Olyott desafía a los predicadores de hoy con tres elementos del ministerio de su Maestro. El estilo y el método de Cristo no eran aburridos, sino emocionantes y absorbents. La predicación de Cristo era evangelística. El ministerio de Cristo era alogo más que solo predicar: su vida entera era ministerio. De una forma fresca, convincente y práctica. Olyott aleja a los predicadores de algunos de los peligros y escollos que podrian obstaculizar su éxito. Al hacerlo, nos muestra lo esencial que es el ejemplo de Cristo para aquellos que buscan ministrar en su nombre hoy día.

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The Christian church today stands in need of a recovery of good preaching. But how is that to take place? In answering this vital question, the author draws on his own experience as a pastor and preacher and on the widespread opportunities he has had to teach and counsel other preachers. What’s Wrong With Preaching Today? contains a searching message which will disturb complacency; but rather than create despair, it challenges all who preach (as well as those who hear) to rise to new levels of faithfulness and usefulness in the service of Christ.

Extract

The Minister and Secret Prayer

Review

• Review by Andrew Roycroft

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In the controversy arising from the promotion of this method, three main reasons have been put forward in its defence; the argument from Scripture, the ‘psychological argument’ which asserts the helpfulness of a public response to the individual, and a general argument as to its evangelistic effectiveness. In this booklet Iain Murray, himself an evangelical minister, examines the validity of these arguments and questions whether they can satisfactorily answer counter-arguments from Scripture and experience.

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Preaching is in a state of crisis, evidenced most seriously by immaturity, confusion and ignorance among professing Christians as a result of the poverty of the pulpit. The remedy, Dr. R. Albert Mohler affirms, is to obey Paul’s parting charge to Timothy: ‘Preach the word. . .in season and out of season’ (2 Tim. 4:2). Dr. Mohler’s address is a powerful call to preachers to do just that.

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All of us who hear preaching are aware that some of it gets through and that some of it does not. Why is this? What, if anything, can preachers do to communicate more effectively? And can this be done without degrading the glory of the gospel message, or detracting from it? This booklet will provide instruction, help, and encouragement to those who are wrestling with these questions.

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Today many Christians have lost confidence in preaching and have replaced it with other things such as dialogue, films, dancing, and dramatic presentations. ‘Do we need preaching today?’ is a question often asked in many churches. John Cheeseman takes up this question and argues that the church must maintain the priority of preaching for both biblical and theological reasons. He then proceeds to offer helpful instruction and advice on the practical matters of preparing and delivering sermons, before finally turning his attention to the vitally important subject of the character of the preacher. This booklet is an excellent primer for all young men who believe that God may be calling them to become preachers of his Word.

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Should the Psalter be the only hymnal of the church? Iain Murray has sympathy with the question. Psalms set to music are a rich heritage and one not to be set aside, yet he argues that there are biblical reasons why it is a mistake to suppose that the words of the Old Testament alone are to be used in the singing of praise.

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Bible reading and prayer are two elements in all evangelical church worship. At certain points in every service someone will read the Scriptures and lead the congregation in prayer. These regular acts of worship are so familiar that many probably take them for granted and do not think too seriously about them.

But what is the best way to read the Bible in public and what are the things we need to keep in mind if we are to lead others in public prayer? In Reading the Bible and Praying in Public, Stuart Olyott supplies us with wise practical advice on these vitally important acts of our corporate church worship.

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Of all the Commandments, perhaps it is the fourth (to keep holy the day of rest) which is least regarded. From an unholy world this is not surprising. But why should it be so among many who believe the Bible is the Word of God? Because, it is alleged, the fourth commandment belonged to the Jewish dispensation. For Christians the seventh day has given way to ‘the Lord’s day’ — a day, not of continuing Sabbath law, but of joy in Christ’s resurrection. Iain Murray believes that this argument misses the foundation of the biblical teaching, namely, that a day specially set apart has come down from creation, and that in essence its meaning remains the same. This is a conviction that was once pervasive in the English-speaking churches, and, if it is true, it sheds a much needed light on our contemporary situation.

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Review

• Review by Jeremy Walker

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What do you recommend on preaching?’ is a frequently asked question that can be answered in a variety of ways. There is always much to learn and there are many books to help us. But whatever else a preacher reads, J.C. Ryle’s little masterpiece Simplicity in Preaching is a ‘must read’. Ryle packs more experience and sanctified common sense into two dozen pages than many others manage in a lengthy treatise. And, like all of his work, this one illustrates the very simplicity he commends to others. Here indeed is a work whose value and usefulness is out of all proportion to its length. , SINCLAIR B. FERGUSON

Reviews

• Review by Kevin DeYoung
• Review by Alan Hill

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‘Murray’s critique is as kind as it is revealing and devastating. The icons of modern evangelism are shown as falling into egregious strategic errors which have weakened the evangelical faith at its very core. The bridges built to reach the mainstream became a two-way street by which those who sought to influence the liberals were themselves influenced.’ — R. C. SPROUL

Book Description

In the discussion and controversy which followed the publication of Evangelicalism Divided: A Record of Crucial Change in the Years 1950-2000, the author was invited by Dr. John F. MacArthur to give an address on the book’s main theme. The following is the substance of that address, given at the Shepherds’ Conference on 11 March 2001.

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‘What constitutes effective and powerful preaching? If we believe that prayer-soaked biblical preaching “in demonstration of the spirit and of power” (1 Cor.2:4) is the grand battering-ram for the demolishing of the bastions of ignorance and vice, and if we believe such preaching to be the unrivaled means ordained of God for the conversion and edification of men, then careful attention must be given to the biblical answer to the question, “what constitutes effective preaching and why is it so?”

Book Description

Believing that preaching remains of vital importance today, John Carrick argues that its effectiveness can be greatly enhanced if preachers make use of the patterns of communication laid down by God in Scripture for their instruction. He sees in the Bible a sacred rhetoric which the apostles and prophets, and Christ himself, used to awaken, move and persuade their hearers. While depending on the power of the Spirit, the preacher should not neglect any help which Scripture affords.

Sacred rhetoric is based essentially on statements and commands (called in grammar the indicative and the imperative), which, together with exclamations and questions, are of immense significance in the preaching of the Word.

Abundant examples from Scripture and from the preaching of such men as Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, Samuel Davies, Asahel Nettleton and Martyn Lloyd-Jones, demonstrate Carrick’s case in The Imperative of Preaching.

Insisting on the critical importance of applying, as well as explaining, the truth of Scripture, Carrick provides an effective critique of redemptive-historical preaching, arguing that this approach seriously neglects the application of the Word of God.

Review

• Review by D. Scott Meadows

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Although much has been written to prepare men for the work of the Christian ministry, there is comparatively little in print that will help prepare the minister’s wife for her role within the church.

The pastor’s wife is neither ‘The First Lady of the Church’, nor just another member of the church. She has certain basic responsibilities laid upon her and this booklet aims to encourage and help her to serve the Lord alongside her husband.

Although written primarily for pastors’ wives, this booklet will encourage Christian wives in general and will stimulate prayer for and support of pastors and their wives everywhere.

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