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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Few topics provoke more questions in the human heart than that of suffering. Paul Wolfe addresses this painful subject with both pastoral and personal experience. Here a struggling soul can find assurance that Christ is still near, still compassionate, and still safely shepherding the Christian through every dark valley. A clear and concise Q&A section addresses both practical and theological issues.

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The Diary and Journal of David Brainerd is of much more than merely historical interest. The first internationally recognized biography ever to be published, it has had a profound impact on successive generations of Christians around the world.

The Diary covers the period from April 1742 to October 1747, and although written as a private and personal record, was published in abridged form by the great New England pastor and theologian Jonathan Edwards in 1749.

Brainerd wrote the Journal, which covers the twelve months from June 1745 to June 1746, at the request of the Scottish Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge, which was supporting his missionary work amongst the indigenous peoples of North America. As Sir Marcus Loane has noted in They Were Pilgrims, ‘the Diary and Journal were each written for a distinct purpose, and each had its separate character. The Diary is a remarkable record of the interior life of the soul, and its entries still throb with the tremendous earnestness of a man who whose heart was aflame for God. The Journal is an objective history of the missionary work of twelve months, and its details are an astonishing testimony to the grace of God in the lives of men.’

Jonathan Edwards’ own ‘Reflections and Observations’ on Brainerd’s life, included in this volume, are, according to Iain H. Murray in his Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography, ‘among the most important descriptive pages on the Christian life which Edwards ever wrote.’

Between 1742 and his death in 1747 David Brainerd took the gospel to the North American Indians of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. He willingly ran any risk and accepted any hardship to fulfil his calling as a missionary. The amount of work which he achieved in such unpromising and difficult circumstances now seems almost incredible. Moreover his total dedication to the cause of making Christ known inspired the finest of missionaries who followed in his footsteps.

Few books have done so much to promote prayer and missionary action as The Diary and Journal of David Brainerd.

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Endorsements

‘Brainerd’s life is a vivid, powerful testimony to the truth that God can and does use weak, sick, discouraged, beat-down, lonely, struggling saints, who cry to him day and night, to accomplish amazing things for his glory.’ JOHN PIPER

‘I was much humbled today by reading Brainerd. O, what a disparity betwixt me and him! He always constant; I as inconstant as the wind.’  WILLIAM CAREY

‘Oh! blessed be the memory of that beloved saint! No uninspired writer ever did me so much good.’  HENRY MARTYN

Reviews

• Review by Kevin Macleod
• Review by Al Baker

We asked people how reading Edwards had benefitted them; this is what they said …

Here’s What You Said About Jonathan Edwards

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When discussing the ‘last things,’ what often comes to our minds is the book of Revelation and its striking visions – and often unhelpful speculation about their details. David McKay focuses instead on the Bible’s clear message about things to come: the Lord’s return, the certainty of judgment, the resurrection, and the reality of eternity. In doing so he returns to the real purpose of God’s revelation – providing comfort, warning, and strength to endure.

About the Author

David McKay is Professor of Systematic Theology, Ethics and Apologetics at the Reformed Theological College, Belfast, and Minister of Shaftesbury Square Reformed Presbyterian Church in Belfast. He is the author of An Ecclesiastical Republic (1997), The Bond of Love (2001) and A Christian’s Pocket Guide to Humanity (2021) and has contributed to a number of theological journals and books. He is married to Valerie.

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This mini-guide introduces the reader to this precious book. David Murray shows how the Psalms speak of Christ, whilst answering questions regarding the interpretation of some difficult passages. He explains how the Psalms ought to be used in worship, counselling, witnessing, and singing, so that believers might glorify and enjoy God each day.

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Book Description

Many twenty-first-century Christians ‌still read the works and love the memory of the remarkable Scottish brotherhood that included Robert Murray M‘Cheyne and Andrew and Horatius Bonar. But the name of Alexander Moody Stuart (1809–98), whom they all esteemed so much, has been forgotten. Yet it took only one encounter with his preaching for M‘Cheyne to say, ‘I have found the man.’

Now, this new edition of Alexander Moody Stuart: A Memoir will throw light on a life and ministry which were profoundly influential—a ministry in which Moody Stuart was, variously, a pioneer rural missionary in an island fishing community; a capable church planter in a growing city; a clear and searching preacher; a much-loved pastor; a caring husband and father; and a committed advocate for overseas missionary endeavour.

Alexander Moody Stuart’s long life and ministry encompassed many of the defining events and debates in the Scottish church in the middle and later nineteenth century, including that which led to the formation of the Free Church of Scotland in 1843. But far from being defined by these important debates, his ministry was principally marked by contemporaries for its deep spirituality, earnestness, and originality.

This well-paced and engaging memoir, partly autobiographical and completed by its subject’s eldest son, covers the life, work, friendships, and challenges of one who was fully engaged with the people under his spiritual care, and who was also a willing defender of orthodox belief in an age of rapid change in approaches to Scripture. As Sinclair B. Ferguson notes in the Foreword, ‘like Andrew Bonar’s memoir of M‘Cheyne, there is a touch of heaven about these pages.’

It is hoped that the republication of this long-forgotten book will go some way to lift Alexander Moody Stuart out of relative obscurity—a man who, in his allotted time and circumstances, exercised a deep and penetrating ministry of the word, the character and aroma of which contain much to stimulate and inspire those engaged in that same spiritual work today.

This fresh edition includes numerous illustrations and an extensive appendix containing several of Moody Stuart’s sermons and addresses, and other documents of interest.

Commendations

‘Long forgotten and hard to obtain, Alexander Moody Stuart is a book for any Christian to enjoy, and every Christian will find it richly instructive, graciously challenging, and wonderfully inspiring. And for ministers of the gospel it is quite simply a ‘must have’. While it ranks among the finest Christian biographies of a past century, the effect of reading it will be a fresh desire to love Christ more and serve him better in the present century.’

—Sinclair B. Ferguson

‌‘There are few ministerial biographies that are better worth reading than Moody Stuart’s Life by his son.’

—Principal John Macleod (1872–1948)
in Scottish Theology

‌‘He has poetry in his soul, and beyond that, a heart like that of Rutherford, fired with love to the altogether Lovely One.’

—C. H. Spurgeon (1834–92)
Pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle Baptist Church, London

‘I know not a greater master in spiritual analysis.’

—Dr John ‘Rabbi’ Duncan (1796–1870)

‌‘Few were honoured to wield an influence so profound and far-reaching.’

—Address from the Free Presbytery of Edinburgh upon
Moody Stuart’s ministerial diamond jubilee in 1897

‌‘… a man who was the first and earliest of a well-defined and very remarkable school of preaching; who was also its patriarch and survivor; and who, besides being the originator, was himself the most original man not only in that school but, according to my judgment, in the whole Scottish pulpit during the long span of his ministerial career.’

—Alexander Taylor Innes (1833–1912)
Lawyer, political and ecclesiastical adviser, and author

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Book Description

J. C. Ryle described Daniel Rowland (1711–1790) as ‘one of the spiritual giants of the eighteenth century.’ Lady Huntingdon considered him to be ‘second only to Whitefield.’ Howel Harris wrote of him, ‘In his pulpit he is second to St Paul,’ while others acclaimed him as ‘the greatest preacher in Europe.’ Yet he has been one of the least known leaders of that age.

The loss of manuscripts shortly after his death, the Welsh language barrier, and the fact that all his closest friends were also preachers rather than authors, all contributed to leave only a shadowy impression of his greatness. However, after many years of work, Dr Eifion Evans succeeded in breaking through a multitude of difficulties to present for the first time a full-scale biography of Daniel Rowland.

J. C. Ryle writes of Daniel Rowland, ‘Never, perhaps, did any preacher exalt Christ more. . . . No British preacher of the eighteenth century kept together in one district such enormous congregations of souls for fifty years as Rowland did.’ And Dr D. M. Lloyd-Jones asks, ‘Has there been preaching which has had anything like the effect of his preaching since those days?’

At death, when reminded that he had been instrumental in the conversion of thousands to Christ, Rowland protested, ‘It is nothing. I die as a poor sinner depending fully and entirely on the merits of a crucified Saviour.’

This volume is a record of revivals, friendships with other leaders, persecutions and divisions, and the birth of a new age for Wales. Amidst it all, Dr Evans excels in showing what made Rowland the preacher and the humble Christian that he was. Dr Evans’ volume not only fills a major gap in church history, it is an inspiring testimony to New Testament Christianity.

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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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In Gospel Life, a posthumous compilation of thirteen sermons from the zenith of his preaching career, John Owen answers these questions with great compassion for the Christian who longs for growth and assurance. He draws on a wide range of Scripture to display the character of the Saviour, the acceptance of the Father, and the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. Finally, Owen addresses the death and eternal hope of the believer, offering encouragement to all who love Christ.

A companion volume, Gospel Ministry, expounds the calling of Christian ministers, and exhorts congregations to loving and prayerful church life.

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

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Book Description

Most experienced Christians are familiar with the Fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians. Love, peace, patience, and so on are often considered both gracious marks of true Christian character and ideals to aim for. But what do they look like when lived to the fullest?

This book answers this question by studying the fullness of the Fruit of the Spirit in the life of Christ. In a warm and engaging style, Jonathan Cruse examines these godly attributes in the Lord’s example, comparing them with our own faltering efforts at holiness, and shows how only the power of God himself can truly conform us to Christ. The work is his, not ours – and this is good news for all those who yearn for greater sanctification.

About the Author

Jonathan Landry Cruse studied theology at Westminster Seminary California. He is an author, hymnwriter, and the pastor of Community Presbyterian Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Jonathan is husband to Kerri Ann and a father of three.

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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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Also available, Sermons on Job, Volume 1 (eBook only) and Sermons on Job, Volume 2 (eBook only)

Endorsement

‘Dr Rob Roy McGregor’s translations of Calvin’s sermons have been received with great enthusiasm and gratitude.’ — DEREK THOMAS

Book Description

THE name of John Calvin (1509-64) is justly renowned in a number of contexts. The Reformation’s greatest systematic theologian, he was also a Christian strategist and transformer of society, as his enormous correspondence and his influence in Geneva bear witness. A prolific scholar, well-versed in the Latin of the academics, he also worked hard at communicating to ordinary men and women in his native French language.

Above all, Calvin was a pastor. Indeed, it has been said of him that he became a theologian in order to be a better pastor. Nowhere is that more clearly seen than in his sermons.

In 1549, the Campagnie des Étrangers, refugees who thought highly of his ministry, employed a professional scribe, Denis Raguenier, to record and translate Calvin’s sermons.

Thanks to the foresight of these sixteenth-century Christians we can still read the 159 sermons Calvin preached on the Book of Job on week-days in 1554-5. They abound in faithful and lively exposition, and remain one of the finest examples of evangelical preaching – faithful to the biblical text and thoughtfully applied to the individual and society.

In 1993 the Banner of Truth Trust reprinted a facsimile edition of Arthur Golding’s 1574 translation of Calvin’s sermons on Job. At that time the publisher expressed the hope that ‘Perhaps one day the massive work of retranslating Calvin from the original French into modern English will be done.’ That day has now well and truly come! Several new translations of Calvin’s sermons have recently been published (on Ephesians, Galatians, 2 Samuel 1-13, Acts 1-7, Gen. 1-20, The Beatitudes, Luke 1-2, etc.), and a new translation of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion (1541 ed.) has also recently been added to this impressive list of volumes. Now, thanks to Dr Rob Roy McGregor, all of Calvin’s 159 sermons on Job have been translated into modern, colourful, and vigorous English.

This third volume covers Calvin’s expositions of Job chapters 31-42.

About the Translator

Dr Rob Roy McGregor is a graduate of Erskine College and Columbia Theological Seminary, and was ordained to the Christian ministry in 1958 by Second Presbytery of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. Dr McGregor taught English, French, German, and Latin at Boys High School and Hanna High School in Anderson before earning the MA degree in French from the University of South Carolina and the PhD in Romance Languages from the University of Georgia. He is Professor Emeritus of French and Latin at Clemson University, with publications on Jehan Froissart, Albert Camus, Voltaire, Charles Baudelaire, and Jean Genet.

Table of Contents Expand ↓

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Book Description

During his earthly life Jesus had many critics and enemies who sought to discredit him and sometimes trap him in his own words. They said, for example, that he had threatened to destroy the temple, that he was a blasphemer and that he acted in league with the devil. On one occasion some religious leaders ‘grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners”’ (Luke 15:1). However, what they intended as an attack gives expression to gospel truth – Jesus did and does welcome sinners; as the apostle Paul wrote, ‘The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’ (1 Tim. 1:15). The Gospel According to Christ’s Enemies looks at such attacks in Scripture and also considers contemporary attacks on Christianity which express truths that their speakers do not intend. The book leads us to the gospel according to Jesus Christ himself.

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Book Description

Christmas, and New Year, are excellent moments to pause and reflect—as scattered families regather for the national holiday, and as the calendar turns over again, with another year gone forever. J. C. Ryle urges us—in the midst of our feasting and festivities and family reunions—to make time to consider our spiritual state and our relationship with God. How is it with our souls? What do we make of Jesus Christ? What will be our future, when all our Christmases are past?

This little book contains five of Ryle’s most popular Christmas tracts, the spiritual wisdom of which is timeless. Ryle challenges us—while we enjoy the wonderful delights of mince pies and mistletoe and mulled wine and music and merriment—to make the most of every Christmas, to consider seriously the person of Jesus Christ and questions of eternal significance.

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A pastor of forty years who has throughout his ministry found the Puritans to be a great source of spiritual encouragement, David MacKinnon presents here 366 extracts from the works of the Puritan pastor Richard Sibbes, which may be used each day of the year by readers as an aid to devotion.

Each extract has been carefully selected, and a suitable accompanying Scripture text provided at the start of each daily reading. Occasional antiquated words in the original have been updated, and overly long sentences have been shortened, but all with a view to retain Sibbes’ flow and meaning for present-day readers.

For those who have never encountered Sibbes before, this volume will serve as an excellent introduction. All will find in these daily readings spiritual refreshment for the soul, coming from one who in his day was known, appropriately, as the ‘heavenly doctor.’

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Theodore Beza’s course of activity was, in the words of the author, ‘long and brilliant.’ He presided over the Reformed church in the French-speaking countries of Europe for many years, and was its recognized counsellor and leader in times of peril. His friendship with John Calvin, and also with the French king, Henry IV, ensured that his influence in both church and state was not insignificant— indeed, Beza’s was a career rich in incidents and dramatic interest.

As Paul Wells notes in his Introduction to this new edition of Baird’s life of Beza, ‘some plants flourish in the shade of mighty trees.’ Theodore Beza was such a plant—a significant ‘Reformer in the wings’ who became a major actor in the development of the magisterial Reformation and the spread of the Reformed faith in France.

Beza stepped into the shoes of Calvin as the spokesman of French Protestants in the diaspora, and as the figurehead of a refugee church—a church faced with theological error, and opposition from the powers that be. Beza’s work remains a model of faithfulness under duress for believers worldwide in comparable situations today—it is for that reason that this new edition of his Life has been published.

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The name of John Calvin (1509-64) is justly renowned in a number of contexts. The Reformation’s greatest systematic theologian, he was also a Christian strategist and transformer of society, as his enormous correspondence and his influence in Geneva bear witness. A prolific scholar, well-versed in the Latin of the academics, he also worked hard at communicating to ordinary men and women in his native French language.

Above all, Calvin was a pastor. Indeed, it has been said of him that he became a theologian in order to be a better pastor. Nowhere is that more clearly seen than in his sermons.

In 1549, the Compagnie des Étrangers, refugees who thought highly of his ministry, employed a professional scribe, Denis Raguenier, to record and translate Calvin’s sermons.

Thanks to the foresight of these sixteenth-century Christians we can still read the 159 sermons Calvin preached on the Book of Job on week-days in 1554-5. They abound in faithful and lively exposition, and remain one of the finest examples of evangelical preaching – faithful to the biblical text and thoughtfully applied to the individual and society.

In 1993 the Banner of Truth Trust reprinted a facsimile edition of Arthur Golding’s 1574 translation of Calvin’s sermons on Job. At that time the publisher expressed the hope that ‘Perhaps one day the massive work of retranslating Calvin from the original french into modern English will be done.’ That day has now well and truly come! Several new translations of Calvin’s sermons have recently been published (on Ephesians, Galatians, 2 Samuel 1-13, Acts 1-7, Gen. 1-20, The Beatitudes, Luke 1-2, etc.) and a new translation of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion (1541 ed.) has also recently been added to this impressive list of volumes. Now, thanks to Dr Rob Roy McGregor, all of Calvin’s 159 sermons on Job have been translated into modern, colourful, and vigorous English.

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Book Description

Samuel Miller (1769–1850), was a faithful pastor, who became a founding father and a professor of Princeton Theological Seminary. He had a deep commitment to the church and an abiding interest in seeing ministers trained ably for her service — an interest which led to him writing this book.

As Dr. Jonathan Master notes in his Foreword to this edition of Miller’s work, ‘public prayer is the priority on Paul’s mind when considering public worship.’ Despite this priority, today public prayer has in some churches a diminishing place in corporate worship.

Ministers especially need instruction in public prayer — Samuel Miller understood this need in his day, and so much of what he wrote remains pertinent to the practice of an edifying ministry in the present.

This volume is replete with insights into the vital place of public prayer in worship, and of sound advice as to how progress may be made in this aspect of pastoral ministry.

This edition includes a Foreword by Dr. Jonathan L. Master, President of Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Taylors, South Carolina, USA.

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Book Description

Mary, the mother of Jesus; Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus; and Mary Magdalene all feature prominently in the gospel narrative. But what can Christians learn from the faith displayed by these women?

In these moving and engaging chapters, Alexander Moody Stuart draws out their characters and helps readers learn from each one’s relationship to Jesus. Perhaps too often known only at the surface-level, these three women, brought into sharper focus by Moody Stuart’s reflective and often vivid portrayals, have much to teach us about the faithful Christian life.

Moody Stuart’s preaching and teaching were marked by a keen sensitivity to the human condition and its needs, combined with challenging practical application. This, linked with a deep tenderness and love, well-qualified him to write The Three Marys.

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Translated from the French by Robert White

When Calvin says that he would not have spoken of election had Scripture not led the way, we need not doubt his word. If he defends the doctrine with vigour, it is because it runs as an unbroken thread through both Old and New Testaments. Like the doctrines of providence, atonement and the new birth, it is a doctrine of sovereign grace.

Calvin did not invent election: it is a doctrine which belongs to the universal church. Its importance for him lies in the fact that it anchors the work of redemption, not in our feeble powers of will, but in God’s inexplicable love for sinners, and it traces that work to a determination freely made in heaven before the world began.

The present volume offers a variety of sources, newly translated from the French, which throw fresh light on Calvin’s doctrine of election. In place of his more formal works such as the Institutes from which the doctrine is usually derived, texts have been selected which were intended for oral delivery to a largely non-specialist audience. The tensions inherent in the doctrine, such as God’s mercy versus his justice, are honestly acknowledged and answered. Throughout, appeal is made not to philosophical speculation but to God’s revealed word. To depart from Scripture, the Reformer holds, is to enter a labyrinth from which there is no way out.

There is no hint of bookishness in the texts presented here. This is theology for Everyman – clear, comprehensive and rich in practical application. And it leads, as all good theology should, to the praise of God’s glory.

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Book Description

Paul’s words in Galatians 6:14, ‘Far be it for me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,’ highlight how central and personally significant the cross of Christ is to Christians. Jesus himself saw the cross as his divinely appointed destiny. As he began to experience the unimaginable agony that lay before him, he said, ‘Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? “Father, save me from this hour”? But for this purpose I have come to this hour’ (John 12:27).

In Words from the Cross Ian Hamilton places Jesus’ seven expiring words of grace and hope in their wider biblical context and explores their theological, pastoral, and evangelistic significance. The short chapters encourage us to reflect and meditate on the love of God which is ‘the fountainhead of the gospel’ (John Owen) and bring us to devote all we are to the Saviour who gave his all for us.

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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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Book Description

John Aaron provides here a fresh account of Thomas Charles’s life, presented against the backcloth of his day and age, and in the light of Charles’s extensive network of correspondents, both Welsh and English.

In Wales, the popular picture of Thomas Charles (1755–1814) had traditionally been of the man who gave a Bible to Mary Jones; who was the ‘Father of the Sunday School’; and who was behind the formation of the British and Foreign Bible Society. But in modern Wales this picture has almost completely faded. No biography of Charles has been published in English or Welsh since 1908—this is the first for over a hundred years.

This new biography covers many aspects of Charles’s life that deserve to be extensively known, including, among others, his long and frustrating courtship of Sally Jones; his early connections with evangelicals in the Church of England, including John Newton and Henry Thornton; the immense and rapid spread of his schools; the revivals which took place under his preaching; his editorial labours over the text of the Welsh Bible; and his leadership of the Calvinistic Methodist Connexion.

Thomas Charles’s writings revealed his spiritual maturity and wisdom. His balance of Christian doctrine, experience, and practice was remarkable. In this wide survey, John Aaron does not shrink from acknowledging both the strengths and weaknesses of his subject, and also seeks to engage with Charles’s scholarship and theology. Here is a book to inform, stir, and inspire.

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Book Description

George Smeaton (1814–1889) was for over thirty years Professor of New Testament Exegesis at New College, the Edinburgh seminary of the Free Church of Scotland.

This collection comprises various printed sermons, lectures, and other shorter writings covering the whole period of his ministry and professorial work.

The collection is wide-ranging in its content and in one respect or another reveals the characteristics of an exercised man, whether speaking, or writing, for ministers, divinity students, or the general reader.

His sermons ‘were full of Christian fervour, and were characterised alike by purity of diction and breadth of scholarship.’ Smeaton was ‘a scholarly devout soul,’ said one former student, ‘whose earnest prayers brought the heavens near.’

It is the hope of the publisher that these sermons and addresses will prove to be as edifying, challenging, and stimulating to this present generation as they were to Smeaton’s own.

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To ask and answer the question ‘Why were our Reformers burned?’ could not be more pertinent to the times in which we live, according to Roger Carswell in his Introduction to this edition of J. C. Ryle’s tract on the English Reformers.

This is a booklet that needs to be read carefully and prayerfully. Its aim is not to lead anyone to smug self-righteousness or complacency. To understand the error of a theological system ought to stir within us compassion and winsome boldness towards those who are caught up in it.

We ought to feel deeply thankful to God for those who lived and laid down their lives for the truth of the gospel. The world was not worthy of them: they took up their cross and followed their Saviour. We need to understand why the Reformers of the sixteenth century lived and died as they did, and in our times cultivate a similar, costly commitment to the truth of the gospel.

This booklet is an extract from Ryle’s Five English Reformers and Light from Old Times.

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The North of Wales in the 1770s was one of the least Christian parts of Britain. The next three decades brought a transformation akin to that of the apostolic era and at the centre of the change was Thomas Charles, ‘the Lord’s gift to North Wales’.

Debarred from the pulpits of his own denomination, and dependent on his shop-keeper wife at Bala, Charles quietly became the leader of the people (‘Calvinistic Methodists’) whose God-anointed witness gathered thousands to the gospel. This astonishing advance involved Bible distribution, the use of circulating schools, preaching, and publishing. More than all these things, there was an outpouring of the Spirit of God and the most enduring lessons of the period have to do with the quality of spiritual life which was then recovered.

This volume, first published in 1838, shows us both what that life was in Thomas Charles’ own experience and how wisely he taught it to others.

Charles’ main characteristic, said Edward Morgan (his editor), was his large measure of love and humility. His life itself, ‘with heaven in his face’, as men said, was a sermon.

For insight into real, biblical Christianity this book will always be one of the classics of evangelical literature. John Elias’ verdict of many years ago remains true, ‘Whatever proceeds from Mr. Charles is excellent’. This was one of the last books in the hands of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones before his death and it led him to conclude that Thomas Charles ‘is definitely one of the most neglected of the spiritual leaders’.

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This is a pastoral, thoughtful, encouraging, challenging and, above all, radically God-centred book. The thirty brief but compelling chapters remind us that this world is not our home, that our destiny is ‘a city that has foundations whose designer and builder is God,’ and that we are called to live world-engaging, Christ-glorifying lives. It also highlights a most important aspect of the gospel’s message – the cosmic nature of Christ’s redemption, from its beginning in the wake of Adam’s tragic fall in humanity’s first home, the garden of Eden, to its consummation in the new heavens and new earth.

Here is a call to all Christians to live as pilgrims, pressing onwards and upwards to our eternal home.

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Podcasts

• Mark Johnston Discusses This World Is Not My Home with Theology on the Go

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According to J. C. Ryle, next to praying there is nothing so important in practical religion as Bible reading. God in his mercy has given us a book ‘which is able to make us wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus’ (2 Tim. 3:15). By reading the Bible we may learn what to believe, what to be, and what to do; how to live with comfort, and how to die in peace.

Can anything, therefore, be more important than being in possession of a Bible? However, to have a Bible is one thing, to read it is quite another. Happy is the one who not only has a Bible but who reads it, obeys it, and makes it the rule of one’s faith and practice!

In this little book Ryle clearly explains why we ought to value the Bible highly, to study it regularly, and to make ourselves thoroughly acquainted with its contents.

This book consists of material extracted from Ryle’s Practical Religion, which is also published by the Trust.

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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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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 of 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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‘You are holding the last book of a true shepherd who knew what it is to be one of Christ’s sheep. It is a rich, biblical, theological, experiential, devotional meditation on the Twenty-third Psalm, combined with a testimony to God’s faithfulness by a godly pastor and professor who is now at home with his Good Shepherd, having long lived in the valley of the shadow of death.’ — LIGON DUNCAN, in the preface

Book Description

The Twenty-third Psalm is probably the best known of all the chapters of the Bible and among the most memorable words ever written in any language. It is so familiar that it would be easy to think that we can learn nothing more from it. But through exposition intermingled with prayers and personal testimony, David Calhoun reminds us that this psalm has great depth, and that lifelong meditation on its words will help Christians to understand just what it is to be a sheep under the care of the ‘good Shepherd.’

Each of the ten chapters in A Sheep Remembers contains a version of the Twenty-third Psalm or a hymn that is based on the psalm, followed by commentary on the verse that is being considered; writings from shepherds that help us to understand sheep and their ways; prayers, quotations and stories that illustrate the theme; and in the last place, the author’s own personal testimony.

This is a striking and profound little volume that will give much spiritual help to readers at all stages in the Christian life.

Review

• • Review by Ligon Duncan, featured on The Gospel Coalition

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There can be no doubt that a seismic shift has taken place within the English-speaking world over the last sixty years regarding what used to be referred to as ‘the Christian Sabbath.’ What was considered to be a day of rest, worship and holy activity is now just like any other day of the week — one for the shopping mall, the sports stadium, or for some self-indulgent ‘me-time.’

What has led to this transformation? Or, more importantly, how ought we to think of the first day of the week? Were our forefathers correct in their understanding of ‘the Lord’s Day’ or ‘the Christian Sabbath’? And what did the Lord Jesus Christ mean when he said that ‘the Sabbath was made for man’ and that he was ‘Lord of the Sabbath’?

Terry Johnson investigates these questions and the issues raised by them. He draws out the teaching of Scripture and illustrates it from the writings of many of the great teachers of the Christian church. He then sets out practical recommendations to help today’s Christians experience the benefits and blessings of the special day God has given us.

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According to Dr Mark Dever, ‘This little booklet is a devotional classic.’ It contains a ‘gospel map’ that reveals the way to the ‘riches of the covenant.’ With great skill and an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of Scripture, Joseph Alleine (c.1634–68) conveys the ‘exceeding great and precious promises’ of God, and sets them forth in such a way as to bring encouragement and delight to the Christian believer. He demonstrates how, by embracing these promises, the believer is enabled to overcome all the assaults of unbelief. ‘Faith,’ he says, ‘makes its claim to all the benefits of the covenant, and stirs up the soul to joy and thankfulness.’ It is little wonder to learn that Alleine’s treatment of God’s precious promises has proved an effective balm to countless weary souls for more than 300 years.

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‘Walking Toward the Dawn provides a sure-footed biblical encouragement to find the heart of our assurance outside of ourselves.’ — IAN HAMILTON

Book Description

The experience of assurance is an area of the Christian life that is troublesome for many. The author of this booklet is one who knows how difficult the struggle can be of finding certainty in one’s relationship to God in Jesus Christ.

Walking Toward the Dawn is aimed at helping others come to a full assurance of the reality of their Christian faith and salvation. The author says: ‘For those who are not struggling with doubt, my hope is that this booklet may prove to be preventative medicine that will fortify them against future infection. For those who are wrestling with doubts, my prayer is that this booklet may guide them out of the gloom and into the dawn.’

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Coming from a remote area of Judah, and from a farming background, Amos was called to a prophetic ministry to the nation of Israel. His prophetic message was a blend of mercy and judgment, as he challenged an erring nation to seek the Lord. In addition to strong condemnation of errant Israel, Amos also held out the ­promise of restored fortunes, and particularly of the continuing place and significance of the Davidic family.

Allan Harman’s commentary is a careful exposition of the text. While using the ESV translation, he gives particular attention to the Hebrew, discussing words that are most significant for the translation and ­interpretation of this eighth-century BC covenantal messenger. He also includes sections of application, that preachers will find particularly helpful.

The author has spent a lifetime in teaching the Old Testament, and brings his skills to another biblical book. This commentary complements his other commentaries on Exodus, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Isaiah, Joel, and Daniel, all of which have been aimed at making plain the significance of the text, without unnecessary reference to other writers.

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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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When a Jewish religious leader heard Jesus say, ‘You must be born again’, he was hearing words of the greatest importance, for without this ‘new birth’ entering the kingdom of God is simply not possible. In investigating this ‘key truth’ of the Bible, this mini-guide shows us the sheer greatness of the salvation Jesus brings.

Banner Mini Guides

Banner Mini Guides introduce the the reader to some of the major themes and issues related to the Christian faith. They lay a solid foundation of Bible teaching while encouraging more thorough exploration of the theme with suggestions for further reading. The mini-guides will seamlessly fit into the teaching quarters of the church year with their thirteen-chapter format, making them useful for group as well as for individual study.

Also in this series:
Growing in Grace
The Christian Mind
Salvation
The Church
The Bible

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Transformed is a strong word, but not too strong to describe the wonderful change that takes place in sanctification. This mini-guide introduces us to the Bible’s teaching on this glorious work of God – a work that takes place inwardly and shows itself outwardly. The result is nothing less than a transformation!

Banner Mini Guides

Banner Mini Guides introduce the the reader to some of the major themes and issues related to the Christian faith. They lay a solid foundation of Bible teaching while encouraging more thorough exploration of the theme with suggestions for further reading. The mini-guides will seamlessly fit into the teaching quarters of the church year with their thirteen-chapter format, making them useful for group as well as for individual study.

Also in this series:
Growing in Grace
The Christian Mind
Salvation
The Church
The Bible
Regeneration

Table of Contents Expand ↓

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Being able to think and reason is part of what makes us human. However clever we may or may not be, our minds matter. The Bible shows us that when people become Christians, their minds are made new. This mini-guide to the Christian Mind explores the far-reaching implications of having a renewed mind.

Banner Mini Guides

Banner Mini Guides introduce the the reader to some of the major themes and issues related to the Christian faith. They lay a solid foundation of Bible teaching while encouraging more thorough exploration of the theme with suggestions for further reading. The mini-guides will seamlessly fit into the teaching quarters of the church year with their thirteen-chapter format, making them useful for group as well as for individual study.

Also in this series:
Growing in Grace
Sanctification
Salvation
The Church
The Bible
Regeneration

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Salvation is the greatest need and the deepest longing of all human beings who have ever lived. Throughout history, people have longed for ‘rescue’, though often without understanding ‘from what’ and ‘by whom’. This mini-guide to Salvation goes to the heart of human need and reveals the greatness of God’s deliverance.

Banner Mini Guides

Banner Mini Guides introduce the the reader to some of the major themes and issues related to the Christian faith. They lay a solid foundation of Bible teaching while encouraging more thorough exploration of the theme with suggestions for further reading. The mini-guides will seamlessly fit into the teaching quarters of the church year with their thirteen-chapter format, making them useful for group as well as for individual study.

Also in this series:
Growing in Grace
The Christian Mind
Sanctification
The Church
The Bible
Regeneration

Table of Contents Expand ↓

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The church is the oldest surviving institution in the history of the world. It has changed lives and shaped nations. It is loved, hated, and ignored in equal measure. But what is it, and what is its purpose in the world? This mini-guide answers those questions and shows why the church matters.

Banner Mini Guides

Banner Mini Guides introduce the the reader to some of the major themes and issues related to the Christian faith. They lay a solid foundation of Bible teaching while encouraging more thorough exploration of the theme with suggestions for further reading. The mini-guides will seamlessly fit into the teaching quarters of the church year with their thirteen-chapter format, making them useful for group as well as for individual study.

Also in this series:
Growing in Grace
The Christian Mind
Salvation
Sanctification
The Bible
Regeneration

Table of Contents Expand ↓

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This mini-guide to the bible provides an entry point for those who know little about the ‘Book of books’; but it does so in a way that encourages those who know it better to explore it more fully.

Banner Mini Guides

Banner Mini Guides introduce the the reader to some of the major themes and issues related to the Christian faith. They lay a solid foundation of Bible teaching while encouraging more thorough exploration of the theme with suggestions for further reading. The mini-guides will seamlessly fit into the teaching quarters of the church year with their thirteen-chapter format, making them useful for group as well as for individual study.

Reviews

• Review by Josh Hill

Also in this series:
Growing in Grace
The Christian Mind
Salvation
The Church
Sanctification
Regeneration

The post The Bible appeared first on Banner of Truth UK.

‘Time and again over the years The Child’s Story Bible provided the timeline for our family worship. The flow of biblical history outlined by Catherine Vos with the biblical narrative gave our children an understanding of the history of God’s redemptive purposes. The stories of David and Goliath, Daniel and the lion’s den, Joshua and Caleb spying out the Promised Land, these and more, were no longer disconnected Sunday School lessons but part of the history of God’s people. Our sons and daughters began to know they were the latest in a long line of saints in whose lives the God of history was working out his saving purposes.’ — JOAN KINGSWOOD

‘We used The Child’s Story Bible as part of our family worship with our three adopted Ugandan boys while we lived in Africa. The Bible stories were very simple to understand especially since the boys were learning English at the time and we found them to be the most faithful to the biblical narratives. I only wish I had known of them when my older children were young!’ — KATHLEEN CURTO

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Catherine Vos’ Child’s Story Bible combines qualities which are not generally found together: she appeals to the interest and imagination of children without sacrificing fidelity to the text of Scripture; she uses the stories to impress great doctrinal truths, uniting the element of enjoyment with instruction; and she takes the sombre warning passages of the word of God as well as those which call for admiration and trust in the Saviour around whom children once gathered upon earth.

Suitable to be read to children aged 3+, and read by children aged 7+ by themselves.

Also suitable for all adults who wish to refresh themselves of the overarching narrative of the biblical story.

This edition includes 26 colour illustrations by Neil McArdle and readers will be interested to know that there are no images of Christ in the book.

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Reviews

Read this review by Pastor David McWilliams

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‘Here in this stirring call to “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead”, we find a tonic for the soul.’ — ALISTAIR BEGG

‘The resurrection of Christ is the stupendous miracle that validates the truth of the Bible and Christianity. But it is much more than that. It is the actual beginning of the resurrection “harvest” in which those united to Christ by faith have an assured place—not only in the future at his return in their own bodily resurrection, like his, but also presently as he already shares with them his resurrection life through the presence and work of the Holy Spirit. With a Mighty Triumph explores the rich truths of this resurrection reality in instructive ways that will benefit a wide range of readers.’ — RICHARD B. GAFFIN, JR.

Book Description

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the bedrock of the Christian faith. Without it, the truth claims of Christianity crumble. But not only is the resurrection of Jesus true and historically verifiable, it is also the foundation of the believer’s hope for the future. Those in Christ will be raised from the dead in the new creation. The apostle Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 15 for the historical resurrection of Christ and the future resurrection of Christians is one of the most momentous theological treatises in the New Testament.

This series of studies, With A Mighty Triumph!, carefully leads readers through Paul’s discussion and examines its inner logic, theological content, and practical application. While not shying away from the difficult subjects of baptism for the dead and the nature of the resurrection body, its main focus is on the hope Christ’s resurrection offers to all who believe.

Reviews

• Review by Tyler Ivey
• Review by The Happy Holy Hour
• Review by Robert Norman

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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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