Perhaps two of the most common reasons for men leaving the ministry today are moral failure and depression, or ‘burn-out.’ The two addresses in this booklet have been selected from C. H. Spurgeon’s well-known Lectures to My Students (also published by the Trust), with the hope that they will be of real practical help to pastors. ‘The Minister’s Self-Watch’ will help you guard your heart, life, and teaching. ‘The Minister’s Fainting Fits’ will supply much needed encouragement to persevere in the work the Master has given you to do.

‘May he in whose hand are the churches and their pastors bless these words to younger brethren in the ministry, and if so I shall count it more than a full reward, and shall greatly praise the Lord.’ — C. H. Spurgeon

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In the writings of J. C. Ryle (1816–1900), generations of readers have found faithful biblical wisdom and searching applications that aim at the heart. As the compiler of this anthology notes, ‘if there were two things that stand out like jewels in his crown, they were Ryle’s unflagging determination to tell us the terrible truth about ourselves, and to point us to Jesus.’

This topical guide to Ryle’s voluminous writings will provide a taste of his method and style, and will serve as a signpost to the different books from which these quotations have been drawn. For those already familiar with Ryle, it will serve as a reminder of the timeless wisdom and practical insights which were characteristic of his written ministry.

Ryle’s pastoral heart is evident throughout this anthology—he was a man whose habit was to speak the truth in love. As J. I. Packer observed, ‘his down-to-earth illustrations and rhetorical emphases gave a sense of the drama, the dangers, the challenges, glories and joys of life under the eye and the hand of the God of the gospel.’

Topics are arranged in alphabetical order, and cover a sizeable range of biblical, doctrinal, pastoral, and historical themes. A bibliography provides readers with information on sources and further reading.

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In The Two Prophets to Nineveh, James McCarthy guides readers on an exegetical tour through the prophetical books of Jonah and Nahum. When studied together, Jonah and Nahum offer a panoramic view of the whole character of God.

The oceanic breadth of God’s mercy poured out in Jonah stands in stark contrast to the volcanic heat of his wrath erupting from Nahum. We feel the soft petals of God’s grace in Jonah but the glistening razor’s edge of his law in Nahum. We cheer the salvation of a city in Jonah only to shudder at the annihilation of the same city a century later in Nahum.

The Two Prophets to Nineveh will help students of the Bible springboard from the familiar Jonah into the less familiar Nahum, seeing how both shine a heavenly spotlight upon the person and work of Jesus Christ.

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Chapters 24–27 of Isaiah have been described as his ‘Tale of Two Cities.’ Like Charles Dickens’ well-known novel, they speak of a terrifying urban convulsion which has widespread reverberations. But the difference between them is of course far greater than any similarity.

Dickens recorded the ‘Terror’ of the French Revolution that sent shock waves from Paris to London (and across Europe to the New World) to which he could only append the desirable possibility of a ‘resurrection-like’ renewal. Isaiah’s ‘two cities’ are an anticipation of ‘Babylon’ and the ‘New Jerusalem’ in John’s Apocalypse, and what he says about each is certain and everlasting.

The events of which Isaiah speaks take place ‘in [or] on that day.’ This is a recurring expression in chapters 24–27 of his prophecy. They refer to ‘the Day of the Lord’ and introduce acts of the Lord’s judgment and salvation. Following the text, these will be considered in seven sections or ‘movements’ with 24:1-20 providing a kind of ‘overture’ to the whole since it deals with both those realities.

Isaiah 24–27 is a magnificent display of ‘the Day of the Lord’ in judgment and salvation, and also of godly rejoicing and waiting for it in dark days. It comports with ‘the already and not yet’ of Christian living, and so Christians should find strength and comfort in these chapters as they look forward and upward to the Lord’s return and ‘the new world’ that God has promised.

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Nick Needham here draws pen portraits of twelve shapers of Christianity—those whose thought and writings have profoundly contributed to the way we think about our faith today. As the author notes, ‘we may well find that in becoming acquainted with them, we catch some glimpse of God’s truth and glory that was evident to them, yet which we perhaps do not see so clearly. Studying our Christian past can in this way become an eminently practical and spiritual discipline.’

‘Dr Needham relentlessly reminds us that history is His-Story, the story of God’s saving purposes in this world. This is a necessary, even vital, reminder that the unfolding of history is not haphazard, or determined by powerful personalities and socio-economic events. Our God reigns.’
—IAN HAMILTON

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– John Calvin

Book Description

Translated from the French of 1562 by Robert White

Of the many sermons which Calvin preached on the Synoptic Gospels, only the first sixty-five were recorded and published, under the title Sermons on the Harmony or Concordance of the Three Evangelists, Matthew, Mark and Luke (1562). Eighteen of these sermons appear here, for the first time in English translation. They focus on the events of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee: his baptism, his testing by Satan, the calling of his first disciples, his teaching and his works of healing.

In consecutive sermons the preacher traces the drama of Jesus’ confrontation with the forces of darkness and unbelief, which make him a prophet without honour in his own country. For the time being, his identity as Messiah remains hidden. Already, however, he is filled with the Spirit of God who empowers and directs him; already Satan must contend with one stronger than he; already the poor have good news preached to them; already God’s kingdom is present in Jesus’ gracious words and mighty works.

These sermons, the last Calvin was to preach on a New Testament text, reveal the Reformer at his best: a lucid interpreter of Scripture, an engaging preacher, and a pastor passionate to present every soul in his care mature in Christ.

Interview with the Translator

Read Robert White’s reflections on years of Calvin translation, along with his assessment of the work that remains to be done here.

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Descripción del libro (Book Description)

En La Fe que Confesamos, Chad Van Dixhoorn ofrece una mirada fresca de un estamento clásico de la fe reformada. Este trabajo accesible, bíblico y reflexivo digiere años de estudio y enseñanza en secciones pequeñas. La Fe que Confesamos, al desafiar nuestros corazones y mentes, espera edificar e instruir tanto a audiencias generales como avanzadas, tal como los autores de la Confesión de Fe de Westminster seguramente esperaron que su magnum opus lo hiciera.

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The apostle Paul often taught young converts to the Christian faith that ‘we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God’ (Acts 14:22). For first-century Christians suffering for Christ was an inevitable accompaniment to a life of serious discipleship.

In many parts of the world little has changed since those early days. But in the West, Christians have long enjoyed a period of unusual rest from such troubles. However, there are ominous signs that change is on the way. Suffering ‘for righteousness’ sake’ may once again mark the lives of faithful Christians in the West.

In this exposition of Paul’s words, ‘For I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus’ (Acts 21:13), John Flavel shows us how vital and excellent a thing it is to prepare ourselves for the onset of sufferings.

‘The cup of sufferings is a very bitter cup, and it is but needful that we provide somewhat to sweeten it…’ — JOHN FLAVEL

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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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Friend‌ of‌ William‌ Guthrie‌ of‌ ‌Fenwick,‌ attendant‌ of‌ James‌ Guthrie‌ of‌ Stirling‌ on‌ the‌ scaffold,‌ son‌ of‌ the‌ Greyfriars‌ Church‌ manse‌ where‌ the‌ 1638‌ National‌ Covenant‌ was‌ signed,‌ Scot‌ ordained‌ in‌ England,‌ exile‌ in‌ Holland,‌ prisoner‌ on‌ the‌ Bass‌ Rock,‌ scholar,‌ preacher,‌ and saint — Robert Traill lived to span‌ the‌ ripest‌ period‌ of‌ the‌ Puritan‌ age.‌ Distinguished‌ in‌ the‌ classes‌ of‌ Edinburgh‌ University,‌ Traill l‌early‌ felt‌ the‌ inner‌ constraint‌ to‌ preach‌ Christ.‌ Too‌ intimate‌ an‌ association‌ with‌ the‌ younger‌ John‌ Welsh‌ drew‌ the‌ swift‌ displeasure‌ of the‌ civil‌ arm‌ upon‌ him.‌ Denounced‌ as‌ a‌ ‘Pentland‌ Rebel’‌ he‌ fled‌ in‌ 1667‌ to‌ join‌ the‌ bright‌ galaxy‌ of‌ British‌ divines‌ weathering‌ the‌ storm‌ of‌ Stuart‌ absolutism‌ in‌ the‌ Low‌ Countries. Traill’s‌ literary‌ output‌ began‌ there.‌ Assistant‌ to‌ Nethenus,‌ professor‌ at Utrecht,‌ he‌ prepared‌ Samuel‌ Rutherford’s‌ Examination of Arminianism‌ for‌ the‌ press.‌ Back‌ in‌ London‌ in‌ 1692‌ he‌ took‌ up‌ his‌ pen,‌ as‌ Isaac‌ Chauncy‌ (Owen’s‌ successor)‌ and‌ the‌ younger‌ Thomas‌ Goodwin‌ were‌ having‌ to‌ do,‌ to‌ defend‌ the‌ doctrine‌ of‌ Justification‌ against‌ the‌ new‌ Legalism.‌ After‌ serving‌ Presbyterian‌ charges‌ in‌ Kent‌ and‌ London,‌ he‌ died‌ at‌ the‌ age‌ of‌ 74.

Robert Traill was endowed ‌with‌ a‌ first-class‌ mind‌ and‌ had‌ enjoyed‌ a very‌ complete‌ theological‌ education.‌ Nevertheless,‌ his‌ sermons‌ were‌ not‌ meant‌ to‌ appeal‌ to‌ the‌ learned.‌ He‌ strove‌ throughout‌ to‌ promote‌ practical‌ godliness.‌ Every‌ reader‌ who‌ shares‌ his‌ outlook‌ will‌ find‌ him‌ warm,‌ instructive,‌ and‌ encouraging.

J.‌C.‌Ryle,‌ who‌ frequently‌ quotes‌ from‌ Traill‌ in‌ his‌ writings,‌ introduces‌ one‌ lengthy‌ extract‌ with‌ the‌ words,‌ ‘It‌ has‌ done‌ me‌ good‌ and‌ I‌ think‌ will‌ do‌ good‌ to‌ others.’

This edition contains ten additional sermons not included in the 1975 Banner of Truth edition, which are appended to volume 2.

‘I know no true religion but Christianity; no true Christianity but the doctrine of Christ— of his divine person; of his divine office; of his divine righteousness; and of his divine Spirit. I know no true ministers of Christ, but such as make it their business, in their calling, to commend Jesus Christ, in his saving fulness of grace and glory, to the faith and love of men; no true Christian, but one united to Christ by faith, and abiding in him by faith and love, unto the glorifying of the name of Jesus Christ, in the beauties of gospel-holiness.’

— Robert Traill in his Preface to Sermons Concerning the Throne of Grace (in vol. 1)

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‘We all owe you a deep debt of gratitude for that wonderful book — The Covenanters.’ — LORD GUTHRIE, 1908

‘His history is a triumphant vindication of the place which belongs to the Covenanters in the making of Scotland.’ — THE EXPOSITORY TIMES, 1908

‘Dr Hewison has written a great book, one for which all true Scotsmen will thank him.’ — REV. ALEXANDER SMELLIE, 1908

Book Description

The progress and persecution of evangelical Christianity in Scotland from 1560 to 1689 is the subject of these rare volumes. In that history, ‘covenants’ were oaths of allegiance which bound Christians, their bodies and possessions, to the furtherance of ‘all things required of God in his Scripture, that may be to his glory.’ Handwritten and circulated from 1557, when martyrdom was still a prospect for the few who pledged themselves, the covenants became a crucial part of an immense struggle to uphold the Bible in the Church and nation. After ‘the National Covenant’ of 1638, ‘Covenanters’ became the accepted name, honoured by the sufferings of perhaps 18,000, before the Stuart monarchy fell in ‘the glorious revolution’ of 1689.

After that date, controversy over these men and women was to continue. Some authors pitied them as fanatics, others as heroes whose lives were outstanding examples of devotion. This great work of James King Hewison has three distinctive characteristics. First, he aimed by exact research at ‘an absolutely impartial account,’ not accepting traditional representations from either side which lacked firm evidence. Second, he took care to show how the covenanting movement was bound up with many political events, leading to the making of a new nation. And third, he believed the covenanting story is one of intrinsic interest, vigour and power. In the view of Alexander Smellie, the result is ‘a great book, one for which all true Scotsmen will thank him.’

The Solemn League and Covenant
Cost Scotland blood—cost Scotland tears:
But it sealed Freedom’s sacred cause—
If thou’rt a slave, indulge thy sneers.
— Robert Burns

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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)

Stuart Olyott

Listen to our interview with Stuart Olyott, touching on his childhood, conversion, call to ministry, and passions and concerns.

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‘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

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‘[The Korean Pentecost] Shows what God can do when His people take Him at His Word.’– J.G. VOS

‘A faithful and stirring record of the Lord’s doings.’– EVANGELICAL PRESBYTERIAN

‘A deeply moving account.’– BIBLIOTHECA SACRA

Book Description

In 1977 the Trust published this remarkable account of the first 60 years or so of the modern church in Korea (mainly North Korea). William Blair (1876–1970), in his first term of missionary service, was at the centre of the great revival of 1907, and his account of this and the events leading up to it forms the first part of the book. Blair includes a thrilling description of how the gospel first came to Korea.

The account is then taken up by his son-in-law, Bruce Hunt (1903–92) — born in Pyengyang, now the capital of North Korea — who shows how the revival was followed by a baptism of suffering under the Japanese and Communists. During his forty-eight years of missionary service in Korea, Hunt personally knew many of the Korean Christian martyrs.

This new edition of The Korean Pentecost has been completely re-typeset, and includes fifteen additional illustrations.

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Reviews

• Review by Fred G. Zaspel
• Review by Trevor Scott
• Review by Moses Y. Lee via The Gospel Coalition

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‘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

‘What 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

When John Newton, ex-sea captain and, as yet, unsuccessful candidate for the Church of England ministry, finished his first book (an autobiography) in 1762 there was no ready publisher. Any thought that he was destined to become one of the best known authors of his age would have been as fantastic as the last 37 years of his life. But in both cases the improbable came about. Becoming curate of Olney, a small village in the south of England, in 1764, Newton there laid his reputation as an evangelical writer, pre-eminently by his published letters and by the Olney Hymns (including ‘How Great the Name of Jesus Sounds, ‘Glorious things of Thee are spoken’ and ‘Amazing grace’). Before the end of his subsequent pastorate at St. Mary Woolnoth, London (1780-1807), his writings were prized around the world from America to Australia.

Newton has a firm place in the classics of Christian literature. While his style is strong and clear, it is the spiritual attractiveness and importance of his main themes which secure the permanent value of his writings. Most of his books came, unpremeditated, out of a need to help his congregation or individual hearers, and it is in practical helpfulness towards Christian living that he excels. If he is loved rather than admired, it is for this reason. Conformity to Christ is the one subject upon which his themes finally focus (‘It will not be a burden to me at the hour of death that I have thought too highly of Jesus, expected too much from Him myself, or laboured too much in commending and setting Him forth to others’). Not surprisingly, Alexander Whyte could write, ‘For myself, I keep John Newton on my selectest shelf of spiritual books: by far the best kind of books in the whole world of books.’

The text of this new four-volume edition of The Works of John Newton has been entirely reformatted, producing a clear and easily navigable set of documents for today’s reader.

Mark Johnston on The Works of John Newton

Review

• Review by Megan Colby
• Review by Tony Reinke

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‘Mark Johnston’s Let’s Study Colossians and Philemon is packed tight with informed insight, clear and concise summaries of otherwise complex issues, and relevant and wide-ranging application. Designed to aid Bible Study, this book should prove a first choice resource. All who follow the author’s fast-flowing argument and analysis will find their heads cleared, their affections engaged and their hearts strengthened. I cannot commend it too highly. Essential reading.’– DEREK W. H. THOMAS

Book Description

All too often Christians and churches are shaped by the latest ideas about Christianity instead of the timeless truths of the Bible which form its true foundation. Although what has become known as the ‘Colossian problem’ was tied to a particular place and time, the issues bound up with it have surfaced again and again throughout the ages – thus what was happening in Colossae in 60 A.D. has a lot to say to us in the twenty-first century.

Paul’s little letter to Philemon is intimately connected to Colossians, and is one of those often-overlooked gems of the Bible. The respective messages of these two letters are closely related, and some of what Paul had broadly set out to the Colossians is developed in detail in his letter to Philemon, who was a member of that church.

Let’s Study Colossians and Philemon will help readers to see the horizons of both letters as extending to the church of all ages. Paul shows us that the acid test of the spiritual health of a church is whether or not Christ is at its heart – not just in some vague and general sense, but Christ in all his glory as he is set before us in God’s Word.

Mark Johnston on Let’s Study Colossians and Philemon

Review

• Review by Alan Hill

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ELIJAH, whom Roger Ellsworth calls ‘the man without a resume’, appears and disappears in dramatic fashion on the stage of human history. Called to serve God in an age of widespread moral and spiritual deterioration and confusion, he reached great heights of boldness and faith, but also sounded the depths of discouragement and depression. The life of Elijah is a call to find our strength in the God who takes the weak things of this world to confound the things that are mighty.

Roger Ellsworth’s exposition of the life and work of Elijah carries a message of great relevance for all who are seriously concerned about the contemporary world scene.

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Few Christian Leaders have suffered quite so much mis-understanding as John Calvin. He has often been dismissed as a theologian without humanity. In fact the very reverse is much nearer the truth. He was a man of deep and lasting affection, passionately concerned for the cause of Christ in the world; a man who burned himself out for the gospel; a man whose heart belonged to Christ.

In this book the reader will find a straightforward introduction to the life and work of the great Reformer of Geneva. W J. Grier’s fast-moving biography not only depicts the titanic struggle by which the gospel was established in Geneva, but also provides valuable insights into the work of God that we know as ‘the Reformation’. In Calvin’s own words, ‘God’s loving-kindness to us was wonderful, when the pure gospel emerged out of that dreadful darkness in which it had been buried for so many years.’

For Calvin, the Reformation was primarily a movement of the Holy Spirit that turned attention from man-centred religion to God. It is the prayer of the publishers that the retelling of this ‘wonderful’ story will help in the recovery of God-centred Christianity and the raising up of more ‘burning and shining lights’ today.

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Martin Luther said that ‘once the pure and certain Word is taken away, there remains no consolation, no salvation, no hope’. That is where the church found itself just before the Reformation. No man did more to point the church back to God’s inerrant Word than John Calvin. Having accepted Scripture’s claims concerning itself, Calvin laboured, as few others have, to make this revelation known to his own hearers and, through his published writings, to generations that succeeded him. John Calvin, Man of Gods Word,discusses how the church owes a great debt to Calvin the theologian, commentator, and preacher. This brief study is an indication of that debt to this ‘man of God’s Word’. Its aim is to encourage Christians to read and to hear Scripture as God’s true Word to helpless sinners.

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‘The whole unfolding Let’s Study series is a must for every Christian home that is serious about getting to know the Word.’ — COVENANTER WITNESS

Book Description

Luke’s Gospel is well suited to 21st century readers because it is written in a style that appeals to the imagination, deals with people’s lives, is easy to read, and wholly enjoyable. Through his narratives Luke portrays Jesus vividly and makes him accessible for anyone who seriously reads his Gospel.

Let’s Study Luke will not only guide you through the twenty-four chapters of Luke’s fascinating book, but will help you to understand and apply it in practical ways to your daily life.

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‘The whole unfolding Let’s Study series is a must for every Christian home that is
serious about getting to know the Word.’ — COVENANTER WITNESS

Book Description

As we open the New Testament, Matthew, the first Gospel writer, immediately announces a new beginning. He declares that the day that has now dawned is the new age predicted by all the prophets, the time of the Messiah, the true son of David and of Abraham. This is the thrilling message Matthew brings to us. God has begun something new. Is it really possible that all things can be made new? Can our lives be made new? Can the world be made new? The answer of Matthew and the New Testament is a resounding ‘Yes!’

In this easy-to-understand book, Mark Ross guides the reader through the 28 chapters of Matthew’s Gospel and helps us to apply its teaching to our daily lives. He shows us that in the Person and work of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the long-expected kingdom of God has arrived, and life and salvation are offered to all the nations of the earth. As the writer says, ‘What a message this is – what drama, what pathos, what love, what glory, what longing fulfilled, what hope and promise for us today!’

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Review

• Review by Alan Hill

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‘The whole unfolding Let’s Study series is a must for every Christian home that is serious about getting to know the Word.’ — COVENANTER WITNESS

Book Description

Derek Thomas shows that amidst the language and forms that dazzle and shock the book of Revelation is above all a book about Jesus Christ. Thomas takes us through the series of seven visions which show the outworking of the words of Jesus to Peter: ‘I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.’

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‘The whole unfolding Let’s Study series is a must for every Christian home that is serious about getting to know the Word.’ — COVENANTER WITNESS

Book Description

Like much of the New Testament, John’s three letters were written to deal with pressing difficulties being experienced in the first-century churches. False teachers, whom John calls ‘antichrists’, were denying fundamental Christian truths and deeply troubling the Christians whom the aged apostle loved and called his ‘little children’. John writes with warmth, seriousness, and urgency to correct this situation. He shows that sound doctrine is vital, not only to the well-being of Christians, but to their very existence, since error leads to deception, darkness, and ultimately the destruction of those who embrace it.

The message of John’s letters is of perennial relevance, and especially important in our own day. Ian Hamilton’s concise commentary provides a warmly pastoral explanation of John’s timeless message, pointing the reader to the Word made flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the answer to all problems in the church, whether in the first or the twenty-first century.

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Reviews

• Review by Jason Button
• Review by Alan Hill

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This is the moving story of God’s redeeming and restoring grace to one who wrote the following epitaph for himself:

John Newton, Clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy.

Formerly published as But Now I See, this biography contains much valuable first-hand material from Newton himself. Indeed, considerable use is made of his Diary and Letters. His pre-conversion days, his call to the Christian ministry, and his time at Olney and St. Mary Woolnoth are all covered. This is no arid record of the past. Besides being a worthy memorial to the life and work of John Newton, this biography will also encourage those who love the gospel to consecrate themselves to the Master’s service as Newton did.

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Jonah is not a book about a great fish! It is really a book about God, and how one man came, through painful experience, to discover the true character of the God whom he had already served in the earlier years of his life. He was to find the doctrine about God come alive in his experience. It is this combination of doctrine and experience that makes Jonah such a fascinating, instructive and practical book.

The teaching of Jonah searches our hearts and consciences in a special way because it is the story of a man who was on the run from God. It traces not only the path of his journey, but unravels the inner workings of his heart- his fears, motivations, and passing moods. Christians today still experience these ‘Jonah syndromes’.

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Reviews

• Review by Barry Vendy

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‘Concern for the present life has over-powered that for the life to come’. So writes Paul Helm in the Introduction to this timely study of the four ‘last things’: death, judgment, heaven and hell. His purpose is ‘not to speculate, or sentimentalise, but to state as sharply and starkly as possible the plain facts of the matter as Scripture portrays them’.

Paul Helm writes with careful thought and serious purpose, but also with the humility and sensitivity of a Christian convinced that we must follow God’s word wherever it leads, and no further.

The Last Things not only clarifies our view of the future-it also provides a fresher, clearer perspective on the present life.

The Last Things completes Paul Helm’s trilogy on the Christian life, which includes The Beginnings and The Callings, also published by the Trust.

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Review

• Review by Gavin Ortlund

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‘Kingdon combines the ability to understand the text of Scripture with the sensitive heart of a pastor well prepared to be our friend and guide in this area of spiritual experience’ — SINCLAIR B. FERGUSON

Book Description

To know that God wisely governs all His creatures and all their actions is one thing, but to apply this truth in our own lives is quite a different matter, especially when our hopes are disappointed and providence seems to frown.

With great insight and pastoral wisdom, David Kingdon helps us to apply lessons from the life of Joseph to our own lives. He shows that God’s people are not lost in a meaningless maze, but are safe in the hands of a loving Father. However ‘mysterious’ His ways seem at present, He has purposed good for His people, and will ‘make it plain’ in His own time. Even when we feel most at a loss about God’s dealings with us, He is teaching us lessons which could be learned in no other way.

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‘The whole unfolding Let’s Study series is a must for every Christian home that is
serious about getting to know the Word.’ — COVENANTER WITNESS

Book Description

Peter’s great themes of grace and salvation in Christ, godly living, and comfort in suffering, echo down the ages to the present day. William Harrell’s fresh and lively treatment of 1 Peter shows that these themes are as relevant to the church today as they were in the first century. We, too, need to hear of the greatness of the salvation accomplished by Christ and to heed the call to consecrated and orderly living, to endurance in suffering, and to vigilant service.

As with the earlier volumes in this series, the value of the exposition is enhanced by the Group Study Guide which follows.

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New to the Bible? One Lord, One Plan, One People will help you uncover what the Bible is all about as it takes you on a journey from Genesis to Revelation, pointing out the main features of each book.

Want to know how the Bible fits together? One Lord, One Plan, One People will show you how the Bible is not a collection of random stories, but that all its sixty-six books focus on Jesus, the one Lord who is the terminal point of God’s promises. It is the story of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, ascension, reign, and return which is the Bible’s big theme. As you view the Bible through that lens, you will grasp how its individual parts interlock.

Twitchy about venturing into the Old Testament because you are unsure what its function is? One Lord, One Plan, One People will get you out of your ‘New-Testament only comfort zone’ and into the Old Testament. You will discover how both parts of the Bible operate in tandem, with the New Testament shedding light on the Old, and the Old Testament providing the framework for understanding the New.

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Review

• Review by Alan Hill

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‘The whole unfolding Let’s Study series is a must for every Christian home that is serious about getting to know the Word.’ — COVENANTER WITNESS

Book Description

A first-century Christian, contemplating the future of the church on earth, might well have asked: How will the church fare when the apostles are no longer present to teach and guide her in person? How can sound doctrine, on which salvation depends, be preserved? And how can good order be maintained without the apostles to put it into effect? Part of the divine answer to these questions was the apostle Paul’s first letter to Timothy. Paul wrote to instruct Timothy on the conduct of his ministry in Ephesus. But in the purpose of God his instructions were to remain permanently valid for the church and its ministers till the end of time.

In this concise Bible study, John Cook guides the reader through Paul’s letter, pointing out its relevance to twenty-first-century Christians and churches. He shows that behind all the detailed guidance Paul passes on to Timothy and to us lie his amazement and gratitude that ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’ (1 Tim. 1:15), and his fervent desire that the church Christ came to save should remain ‘a pillar and buttress of truth’ (1 Tim. 3:15) until the appearing of the Saviour in glory.

The Let’s Study series seeks to combine explanation and application. The aim is exposition of Scripture written in the language of a friend, seated alongside you with an open Bible.

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What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit and is this something that is true of all Christians? What kind of person does God delight to use in the work of his kingdom? What is revival? Is it a sovereign work of God by his Spirit or merely the result of evangelistic activity on the part of zealous Christians? Is God as concerned to save a single individual as a whole city of people? These are just some of the issues Geoff Thomas deals with in this popular, thought-provoking, and soul-stirring study of Philip the Evangelist and the great Samaritan awakening, recorded in Acts chapter 8.

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Geoff Thomas — PHILIP AND THE REVIVAL IN SAMARIA

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‘The whole unfolding Let’s Study series is a must for every Christian home that is serious about getting to know the Word.’ — COVENANTER WITNESS

Book Description

‘Given the relationship between Paul and the Thessalonian Christians, it should not surprise us that his letters to them throb with tenderness and care…here, as perhaps nowhere else in his letters, we see how the apostle loved his converts and laboured to lead them on in the faith. This should make every serious Christian, and especially every responsible Christian leader, turn with eagerness to the text of the letters that await us.’ — From the Introduction by Andrew Young

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In the opinion of B.B. Warfield, the Westminster divines left to posterity not only ‘the most thoroughly thought out statement ever penned of the elements of evangelical religion’ but also one which breathes ‘the finest fragrance of spiritual religion’. Their most influential work, ‘The Shorter Catechism’, was intended as a teaching basis for an introduction to the Christian Faith. No London pastor made more effective use of it than Thomas Vincent (1634-1678) and when his ‘explanation’ was first published in 1674, John Owen, Thomas Watson along with 38 other signatories to the Preface, declared their belief that it would ‘be greatly useful to all Christians in general’.

The post The Shorter Catechism Explained From Scripture appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘The whole unfolding Let’s Study series is a must for every Christian home that is
serious about getting to know the Word.’ — COVENANTER WITNESS

Book Description

When Paul arrived, Corinth was prospering as ‘the fourth largest city in the roman empire, a commercial bridge between East and West.  It had two harbours – one on the Aegean and the other on the Adriatic Sea. Situated at such an important cross-roads of the ancient world, it became notorious for its sexual vice and immorality. the description of Gentile sin in Romans 1:18-32 fits Corinth exactly.’

Paul preached the gospel there in the early 50’s, stayed for eighteen months, and established a church there.

2 Corinthians – ‘Paul’s most autobiographical letter, in which he opens his heart more than in any other’-shows the ‘privileges and pressures of pastoral work’. It also contains ‘unique passages about perseverance under trials, the nature of Christian service, evangelism and giving.’

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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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‘The whole unfolding Let’s Study series is a must for every Christian home that is serious about getting to know the Word.’ — COVENANTER WITNESS

Book Description

The letters of 2 Peter and Jude share several common themes and were designed to strengthen the faith of Christians who were being unsettled by false prophets and teachers within the apostolic churches. Both Peter and Jude show that the problem of false doctrine is nothing new among the people of God. By using examples and warnings from the Old Testament Scriptures they encourage their fellow believers to remain faithful to the gospel, to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus, and to live in the light of Christ’s second coming.

Mark Johnston’s contemporary commentary shows that these themes are as relevant to Christians today as they were in the first century.

As with other volumes in this series, the value of the exposition is enhanced by the Group Study Guide which follows.

Mark Johnston on Let’s Study 2 Peter and Jude

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‘The whole unfolding Let’s Study series is a must for every Christian home that is serious about getting to know the Word.’ — COVENANTER WITNESS

Book Description

If Romans is, humanly speaking, the most impressive of Paul’s letters, then Ephesians is probably the most elegant. In its opening doxology blessings cascade down upon the reader. In its closing verses the smell of the battlefield lies heavily in the air and through the smoke of war we see Christians, fully clad in the armour of spiritual warfare, still standing. From beginning to end Ephesians sets before us the wonder of God’s grace, the privilege of belonging to the church, and the pattern of life-transformation the gospel produces.

In Let’s Study Ephesians Sinclair Ferguson skillfully leads us through this wonderful letter, explaining its teaching with masterful simplicity and showing its importance and relevance to the church today.

Read Benjamin W. Miller’s review on the OPC Website

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‘The whole unfolding Let’s Study series is a must for every Christian home that is serious about getting to know the Word.’ — COVENANTER WITNESS

Book Description

Let’s Study Hebrews is the fifth volume in the New Testament series of solid, Reformed Bible study guides. Different authors are participating in the production of this series to bring together some of the best hearts and minds available to help understand what the Bible means by what it says. The series’ aim is exposition of Scripture, written in the language of a friend, seated alongside you with an open Bible.

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‘The whole unfolding Let’s Study series is a must for every Christian home that is serious about getting to know the Word.’ — COVENANTER WITNESS

Book Description

Mark Johnston guides us through John’s account of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. John takes us by the hand and leads us into the depths and mysteries of Christ’s Person and wonders He has accomplished — so that the reader should come to living faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, and have eternal life in His Name.

Mark Johnston on Let’s Study John

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Donald Howard was minister of St Peter’s Church, Burwood East, NSW, when his wife Diana, at the age of forty, contracted cancer. She was to live a further six years, but, he writes, although through faith in Christ ‘we were prepared for death, I was ill-prepared for grief.’

This ill-preparedness, he found, arose from a lack of understanding, and two years later he wrote these pages for the help of others. They contain a blend of biblical, pastoral, and personal elements and serve to fill a gap on the subject of bereavement.

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‘What sustained John Paton in his missionary zeal? No doubt he had a love for the people. He was certainly burdened for them and had compassion on their souls, knowing that without Christ they were certain to go to hell. As important as compassion is for those who do not know God, I suggest this will not sustain a missionary zeal, whether it be for missionaries serving on the field or for Christians in western churches who pray and support various missionaries. Something more is needed…Only a zeal for the true and living God to receive his due, to receive the glory and commitment in a local church.’ — ALLEN M. BAKER

Book Description

The autobiography of John G. Paton contains everything necessary to make it a missionary classic. Born into a Christian family near Dumfries in 1824, Paton’s early years were marked by a struggle against poverty. He was self-educated, and the training ground for his life’s work was the slums of Glasgow where he laboured with success as a city missionary. With ‘the wail of the perishing heathen in the South Seas’ continually sounding in his ears, he prepared himself to serve overseas and was ordained as a missionary to the New Hebrides in 1858. This group of thirty mountainous islands, so named by Captain Cook, with its unhealthy climate, was then inhabited by savages and cannibals. The first attempt to introduce Christianity to them resulted in John Williams and James Harris being clubbed to death within a few minutes of landing in 1839. The difficulties that confronted Paton were accentuated by the sudden death of his wife and child within months of their arrival. Against the savagery and the superstition, despite the trials and the tragedies, Paton persevered and witnessed the triumph of the gospel in two of these South Sea islands. His life is almost without parallel in missionary annals and his account of it is moving and gripping.

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Ian Hamilton on John G. Paton

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John G. Paton: Missionary to the New Hebrides is a missionary classic. In this companion volume, Margaret Whitecross Paton gives an enthralling account of missionary life in the New Hebrides from the 1860s to the 1890s. The steady advance of the gospel in the islands is vividly described, and the whole account is set against the background of the joys and sorrows of family life. Margaret Paton writes with rare grace, humour and pathos. Letters from the South Seas is an inspiring story, full of the triumphs of Christian faith and love, and a missionary classic in its own right- a book to prize.

Margaret Whitecross Paton was the second wife of the pioneer missionary to the New Hebrides, John G. Paton. She was the daughter of the Rev. John Whitecross whose work The Shorter Catechism Illustrated was republished by the Trust. A gifted writer, musician and artist, she died in 1905.

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‘This is a good book, and the truths it proclaims are urgently needed for our day when Evangelicalism is in a state of theological free fall and utterly unsure of its identity. Here, we have for us what that identity looked like in the past so as to guide readers into biblical living in the present.’ — MICHAEL A. G. HAYKIN

‘It is always very profitable to read any book by Iain Murray. This one is no exception. Every minister or Christian worker should read everything he has ever written. Accordingly, I could wish that every preacher, pastor, missionary, and Christian worker could have [Old Evangelicalism] placed in their hands.’ — MACK TOMLINSON

‘The chief dangers that confront the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God and heaven without hell.’ — WILLIAM BOOTH

Book Description

Sin, regeneration, justification by Christ’s righteousness, the cross, and the love of God, assurance of salvation – these are the truths that once thrilled churches and changed nations. Yet, where evangelicalism continues to affirm these truths, without such results, it is often assumed that she must have needs that cannot be met without something new.

These addresses by Iain Murray challenge that mindset. While the Bible not history is the textbook in these pages, Murray draws on the best authors of the old evangelicalism to confirm what a glorious message the gospel is.

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— Sinclair B. Ferguson
in the Introduction

‌‘There is nothing more enjoyable for me than to find a number of preachers, with able minds, meeting together to discuss various views in order to arrive at a common opinion. This is just what is provided in these pages. Among other things this volume brings out how different problems may be faced, and to ministers, in particular, it should be extremely helpful. I greatly enjoyed it.’

— D. M. Lloyd-Jones
on the Banner of Truth re-issue in 1978

Book Description

The Eclectic Society was formed in 1783 by John Newton, Richard Cecil, Henry Foster and Eli Bates, and held its first meeting at the Castle and Falcon Inn, Aldersgate Street in the old City of London. Its aim was to provide fellowship for ministers of the gospel, and to encourage biblical and experimental Christianity.

The Society increased in size, and meetings were held fortnightly in the vestry of Cecil’s church, St John’s, Bedford Row, and included several laymen and Nonconformist ministers. Besides the illustrious founders, such influential evangelicals as Thomas Scott, author of the famous Bible commentary, and Charles Simeon of Cambridge were also members.

The questions proposed and discussed by the Society covered a wide range of themes, including biblical exegesis and application, ministerial duties, events of national significance, and general matters of theological and ecclesiastical importance linked with the cause of the gospel. Nor were the meetings simply ‘talk-shops’. From them came the Church Missionary Society, the Christian Observer magazine, and the untold intangible benefits to the congregations whose pastors enjoyed the sharpening of their minds and the quickening of their spirits at the Society.

The Trust originally republished these Notes in 1978, not because of their antiquarian interest, but their rare spiritual value. Almost fifty years later, they still suggest questions to which every thinking Christian should give attention; they indicate the lines along which biblical answers will proceed. Ministers will find themselves drawn into the fellowship of the minds of these spiritual masters and receive stimulus for preaching and pastoral counselling. There is help here to strengthen grace in every believer.

The notes in this volume cover the period 1798–1814 when Josiah Pratt was a member of the Society and served as secretary. Edited by his son John H. Pratt, they were first published in 1865.

This edition includes an Introduction by Dr Sinclair B. Ferguson, who has served congregations in his native Scotland and the USA, and continues to serve as Chancellor’s Professor of Reformed Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary, and as a Teaching Fellow for Ligonier Ministries.

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