Book Excerpts

The following excerpt is from George Smeaton’s Christ’s Doctrine of the Atonement (pp. 157–160). The third exclamation of the conscious sin-bearer was the cry, “My God, My God! why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46.) It was like all His sayings, according to truth; and it becomes us carefully to investigate its import and significance. […]

The following is taken from Thomas Brooks, The Secret Key to Heaven: The Vital Importance of Private Prayer (Puritan Paperbacks). After detailing the great privilege of private prayer, and why it is of the essence of the true Christian life, he anticipates and answers several common objections to its practice: First Objection. But many will […]

The following excerpt is Chapter 2, ‘The Spirit of God’, in The Holy Spirit by John Owen. This Puritan Paperback title is abridged and made easy to read from Owen’s Pneumatologia or A Discourse Concerning the Holy Spirit, which is 650 pages in the third volume of Owen’s Works. The Holy Spirit has many names […]

The following address, published in Knowing the Times: Addresses Delivered on Various Occasions, 1942–1977, was given at a conference of leaders of the Crusaders’ Union, Sion College, London, on 7 February, 1942. The presentation of the gospel is a subject which is always important. It is always important because of the eternal consequences that depend […]

The following was given as a radio address for the BBC in Wales, 25 June, 1944 and is featured in Knowing the Times: Addresses Delivered on Various Occasions, 1942–1977. Nothing is more significant of the great change which has happened in the field of theology during the past twenty years than the place now afforded, […]

Charles Ross’s The Inner Sanctuary: Expositions of John 13–17 is a neglected gem of devotional teaching. The following excerpt, Ross’s comments on John 13:1, amply demonstrate how warm and practical is his treatment of this uniquely beautiful section of Scripture. THE narrative on which we are about to enter has always been regarded by true […]

The following excerpt is the first chapter of The Glory of Christ, R. J. K. Law’s Puritan Paperback abridgement of John Owen’s Meditations on the Glory of Christ which appears in Volume 1 of his Works. When the high priest under the law was about to enter the holy place on the day of atonement, […]

John 17:24 is a text to dwell on, and indeed to dwell in. John Owen, perhaps the greatest Puritan theologian, wrote his Meditations on the Glory of Christ on the themes of this verse, and it was carefully treated of by his contemporaries Anthony Burges in England, who preached six of his 145 sermons expositing […]

Elizabeth Prentiss led a life that was far from easy. She knew hardship, toil, sickness, weakness, and the loss of precious children. Through it all, she received grace to submit to the wisdom and sovereignty of the Lord she loved, and ever longed to love more. The following excerpt, from Sharon James’s Elizabeth Prentiss: More […]

The following is an excerpt from J. Gresham Machen’s classic work, What Is Faith?, which has recently been reprinted by the Banner with a new, modern typeset and an updated cover. It is impossible to trust God in the Christian sense without holding that he is a free and living person, Creator and Ruler of […]

The following was an address delivered at the “Religious Conference,” held in the Theo­logical Seminary, Princeton, on October 13, 1902. Reprinted from The Princeton Theological Review, i. 1903, pp. 81-92. The article forms a part of Warfield’s Studies in Theology (1932, rep. Banner of Truth, 1988), which is currently out of print. WE may as […]

On this day in 1666, the infamous Battle of Rullion Green took place six miles outside of Edinburgh. The following excerpt from The Scots Worthiesprovides some of the background to this encounter, and introduces us to a young man whose involvement with the uprising for the sake of faith and conscience cost him his life. […]

When God takes manhood into union with himself in this matchless way, it must mean blessing to man. God cannot intend to destroy that race which he thus weds unto himself. Such a marriage as this, between mankind and God, must foretell peace; war and destruction are never thus predicted. God incarnate in Bethlehem, to […]

The following is excerpted from Chapter 3 of Iain Murray’s book The Forgotten Spurgeon, which is entitled ‘Arminianism Against Scripture.’ ‘I believe that very much of current Arminianism is simply ignorance of gospel doctrine.’ — C. H. S., Sermons, 11, 29 When I was coming to Christ, I thought I was doing it all myself, […]

The following is excerpted from Help Heavenward: Guidance and Strength for the Christian’s Life Journey, by Octavius Winslow. And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee. I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become […]

The following is excerpted from Sinclair B. Ferguson, Some Pastors and Teachers: Reflecting a Biblical Vision of What Every Minister is Called to Be.  JOHN OWEN was born in 1616 and died in 1683. During the course of his life he held pastorates in Fordham and Coggeshall, in Essex, served as vice-chancellor of Oxford University, as […]

The following is excerpted from Sinclair B. Ferguson’s volume John Owen on the Christian Life (pages  275–279). The original text is heavily footnoted with reference to sources in Owen’s Works. The covenant into which we enter through faith in Christ is an everlasting covenant, in that it is rooted in the eternal purposes of God the Father, […]

The following excerpt is drawn from the biographical sketch* in Volume 1 of the Works of John Flavel, published by the Trust. Mr. Richard Flavel left two sons behind him, both ministers of the gospel, viz. John and Phinehas. John the eldest was born in Worcestershire. It was observable, that whilst his mother lay in […]

The following excerpt is Chapter 8 of John Flavel’s The Mystery of Providence. Having proved the affairs of the people of God to be conducted by the care of special Providence, and given instances of what influence Providence has upon those interests and concerns of theirs, we come in the next place to prove it to […]

The following extract is taken from Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor, pages 249–273.  Note to the reader: before this section, Baxter spends time considering how a minister may winsomely prevail upon his people to submit to being catechised. With this treated of, he proceeds to outline how a shepherd of God’s flock can best carry […]

In the recovery of biblical exposition that has marked the church in our own time, it has not always been recognized that in addition to such exposition the Reformers and Puritans placed great stress on catechizing. We tend to think of this as children learning catechetical questions and answers by rote. But what the Puritans […]

The following extract is taken from Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor, pages 168–177. The Duty of Personal Catechizing and Instructing the Flock Particularly Recommended Having disclosed and lamented our miscarriages and neglects, our duty for the future lies plain before us. God forbid that we should now go on in the sins which we have […]

Happy in my work as I felt, and successful by the blessing of God, yet I continually heard, and chiefly during my last years in the Divinity Hall, the wail of the perishing Heathen in the South Seas; and I saw that few were caring for them, while I well knew that many would be […]

Above all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, supplications and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and for those appointed to high office, so that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, in all godliness and decency. (1 Timothy 2:1-2) As long as we are busy doing good, the devil has less […]

The following testimony is from Near to God: 9 True Stories of a Wonderful Discovery. The love of Christ compels me to give testimony to my conversion from the Roman Catholic priesthood to the born-again life in Jesus Christ. For twenty-five years I was a Roman Catholic priest, strictly following the rituals of a system […]