Great Quotes

The Puritan Study (Part 3) The People of a Puritan Library

Tony Reinke Book reviews, Books, Great Quotes, Puritan CD-Rom, Puritan Library, Puritans, Reading, The Puritan Study

Part 3: The People of a Puritan Library

So far we’ve talked vaguely about some group of people named ‘The Puritans.’ Today we name names.

Like I said, this list does not include Puritan commentaries. You should consider getting Matthew Henry’s commentary on the bible. It is very useful and mature in its biblical application. And of course (Reformer) John Calvin’s commentaries are likewise valuable. Both are available in print for a reasonable price and online for free.

The list

I have used the following 14 Puritans in a number of situations but mostly in expositions. These men are faithful and trustworthy friends. I have been pushed deeper into scripture as these men faithfully expound and apply the bible. Many of their sermon illustrations have been reworded for my hearers. I have shared hundreds of quaint and beautiful quotations from these men. And I have personally been fed and refreshed as each of these men exalt in the glory of Jesus Christ, teach me to conquer (mortify) sin, and steer my affections away from the temporary and towards the eternal.

The Shepherd’s Scrapbook is proud to offer this list of Puritans (ordered by each author’s usefulness and availability. See pictures of these sets). …

1. Charles Haddon Spurgeon (63 sermon vols.; CD-Rom). Not a Puritan (obviously) but he is the great synthesizer of the best of the Puritan literature (see the Treasury of David for example).
2. Jonathan Edwards (2 vol. works; printed)
3. John Bunyan (3 vol. works; printed)
4. Thomas Boston (12 vol. works; printed)
5. Thomas Manton (22 vol. works; printed)
6. John Owen (16 vol. works; but especially vols. 1,2 and 6; printed)
7. John Flavel (6 vol. works; printed)
8. Richard Sibbes (7 vol. works; printed)
9. Jeremiah Burroughs (misc. books; printed)
10. Thomas Brooks (6 vol. works; printed)
11. Thomas Goodwin (12 vol. works; printed)
12. John Newton (6 vol. works; printed)
13. David Clarkson (3 vol. works; printed)
14. Edward Reynolds (vols. 1,4,5,6 of 6 vol. works; printed)

(Note: Spurgeon’s sermons work better in electronic format because of their sheer size and cost in print format.)

At the close of this series on building a Puritan Library, I will be reviewing each set in order to highlight the strengths. Plus, I will share a few tricks necessary to exhaust each of these incredible resources.

Honorable mention

The following Puritans are very helpful. However, these men are either poorly indexed or hard to find (or both). These include the works of William Ames, William Bates, Stephen Charnock, William Perkins, Samuel Rutherford and Thomas Watson.

The bottom line

The bottom line is this: God’s grace is magnificent. He alone allows the funding for these Puritans to be reprinted. He gives publishers the burden to print them today (although these efforts bring very little, if any, profit). He gives men like Robert Martin the generosity to share his Puritan index so we can all benefit from his work.

Before we consider the costs of such a library and the tricks to using one effectively, we should take time this weekend to thank God. His Spirit makes these ancient resources available so the Word can go out into the world today with the earnestness worthy of the Gospel.

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Next time … Part 4: Why our effective use of the Puritans begins in the bible
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The Puritan Study (Part 2) The Rules of a Puritan Library

Tony Reinke Book reviews, Books, BR > Banner of Truth, Christian book review, Great Quotes, Puritan CD-Rom, Puritan Library, Puritans, Reading, The Puritan Study

Part 2: The Rules of a Puritan Library

In the remaining weeks we will be spending a lot of time discussing how to efficiently use the Puritans. In this and the next post, I want to take some time to define what a solid Puritan library looks like. Today we lay the ground rules for what follows.

It is my view that the most useful Puritan Study (or Library) will be well-indexed and use both printed volumes and electronic files.

E-books vs. Print books

Open this question, and memories of Ali vs. Frazier or Tyson vs. Holyfield come to mind. Debate whether the Puritans will endure in e-books or print books, and the two sides strap on the gloves and enter the ring for a showdown.

Let’s step back from the debate and make some clarifications.

No question, the computer has changed the way we pass words around. More and more Puritan books are being scanned into .pdf format for use on a computer, and many of these are being converted into text files for easy searching.

Here’s a little more info about the two types of electronic Puritan books commonly available today.

PDF picture files. Some electronic publishers take the Puritan texts and scan them into a computer as a picture file. The pictures can be seen on your computer and are an identical copy of the book page. Usually these are not text-recognized so you cannot conduct a text search or copy and paste. These files are very common with the Puritans but they also make for large and cumbersome files. (My powerful Apple PowerBook G4 can hardly keep up with a 100 MB file off the hard drive.) So unless you have the most powerful computer on the market, it is hard to efficiently use these large .pdf files.

Text files. These are more rare because they demand careful editing of the raw text. The raw text is generated by a computer deciphering words from the printed page through a scan of the page. Because many Puritan books are old editions, the computer doesn’t perfectly transcribe the words and so time-consuming editing is critical. This text file makes for much smaller and convenient file. But even better, they are searchable. There is a growing collection of these files freely available at www.CCEL.org . The Puritans are in the public domain so anyone can scan and distribute the texts freely. More about that later.

Back to the ring. Who is going to win the fight? The old dusty volume or the energetic young e-book? If we look at e-books and print books honestly, we see that they are more compatible than at first glance. In fact, I would argue that e-books and print books make a better matrimonial match than a boxing match.

For example, print books travel easily. A volume travels in the airport and across the country, without plugs or electricity. You can underline in it and write marginal notes. On the other side, the e-book text can be searched in seconds. But who spends hours at their computer reading through a Puritan e-book? (Ouch, my eyes water at the thought.) Print books are much easier to read. Print books usually include very helpful indexes at the end and since e-books are often repaginated, those indexes become worthless in text files. With e-books, I can keep hundreds of volumes on my laptop when I’m out of town.

My point: We need both e-books and printed books. Let them live in peace.

One example

Probably the best example I can give you is my use of the 2-volume Works of Jonathan Edwards. (No preacher should be without them, Martyn Lloyd-Jones said.) And no preacher should be without the free text files either.

The two work beautifully together. The text file is easy to search and the print volume is nice to read.

Let’s say we are preaching through Ephesians chapter 2, and we want to see what Edwards had to say. We open the text file to the first volume. And since the text file uses Roman numerals we do a quick search on “Eph. ii.”. We see there are 35 references to Ephesians 2 in the first volume of Edwards’ Works in about 3 seconds.

The reference you see on the screen shot looks like an interesting one. Notice this text file (from the CCEL) includes the printed page number in the left column. I open the Banner of Truth volumes in my library to page 628. Where was this reference by Edwards? A sermon? A book? What was Edward’s main point in using Ephesians 2 here? These questions are more easily answered by reading the printed book.

Wasn’t that easy?

Now here is the shocker: I personally believe e-books actually make the printed books MORE valuable! They certainly make the printed volumes more useful. [One idea: Puritan publishers should consider bundling their printed volumes with a free CD of electronic volumes.]

Remember Thomas Edison who invented the phonograph (‘sound’ + ‘writing’) in 1876? Well Edison proudly predicted that by the year 2000 audio books would eliminate the need for printed books. He was wrong. Printed books, like diamonds, are forever.

Q: Should I pay for Puritan CD-Roms?

Generally speaking I say “No,” don’t buy Puritan CD-Roms. As you will see there are exceptions to this rule but most Puritans are going online at an amazing rate. Just look at the files available on Puritan John Owen from CCEL (here). And all these are free.

Because almost all of the Puritans (including Spurgeon) are public domain, nobody has the rights to the text itself. Anyone can take the text and publish them as they wish. And that is what people are doing online.

Wait patiently. Pretty much all the important Puritan files you see on these expensive CD-Roms sets will be available for free (and in searchable text form) in the coming years. So if you own the CD-Roms already consider unloading them on Ebay while they still have value. Invest your money in printed books.

Indexes

Indexes are the key to the Puritan Study I am laying out before you. I don’t have the time to sift through 100,000 pages of Puritan literature to create my own index (and I’m certain you don’t either). So the best Puritan Study will be built from the indexes currently available.

The following two indexes are especially valuable. (Ironically, one is electronic and one printed.)

1. A free online index. This index lists the Puritan sermons by sermon text. It’s especially valuable because it includes an index to the sermons of Charles Spurgeon. There is no topical index. Later in the series I’ll show you how to get around this hitch.

2. A Guide to the Puritans by Robert P. Martin (Banner of Truth, 0851517137). This volume comprises two indexes (by text and by topic). Like the free resource above, this book is a handy textual reference to the Puritan sermons (minus Spurgeon). But what makes this especially valuable is the topical index of the sermons. You can look up any topic – like ‘Christ > Pre-incarnation existence of’ – and see that both Flavel and Manton preached sermons on the subject. No true Puritan researcher should be without this volume.

So these are the ground rules for my Puritan Study. I value both the e-books and printed volumes. And a good index is critical.

Tomorrow we will look specifically at the most useful (and best indexed) of the Puritans.

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Next time … Part 3: The People of a Puritan Library

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The Puritan Study (Part 1) The Delights and Pains of a Puritan Study

Tony Reinke Banner of Truth, Book reviews, Books, Christian book review, Exegesis, Great Quotes, Preacher's study, Puritan CD-Rom, Puritan Library, Puritans, Reading, Sinclair Ferguson, The Puritan Study

Part 1: The Delights and Pains of Puritan study

Here begins a several part study on building (and using) a Puritan library of your own. Of all the areas of my library, the Puritan section is the most useful.

The “Puritans” are a group of people I (very) loosely define as faithful Christians of the 16th and 17th centuries, as well as those who carried on the Puritan tradition into the 18th and 19th centuries. My definition includes John Bunyan and John Owen (true Puritans), Jonathan Edwards (post-Puritan), and Charles Spurgeon (who carried the Puritan tradition). Other names you may not be familiar with include Brooks, Boston, Burgess, Sibbes, Flavel, Reynolds, Ames, Manton, Rutherford, Newton and Clarkson. You will become more familiar with the names as we continue on.

This series is based upon two fundamental convictions.

First, the church today benefits most from leaders and preachers who are burdened to present expositional messages – sermons drawn from principles clearly demonstrated in scripture. The preacher is to “preach the Word” by taking every precaution in the name of accuracy and then exhorting and encouraging by earnest application.

Secondly, an efficient and workable library of the best Puritan literature is a great way to faithfully preach and apply scripture to the hearts of your hearers. The Puritans are no substitute for careful exegesis and use of contemporary commentaries. But once the foundational research is complete, the Puritans will open up new threads of understanding and application on your text. Pastors and congregations today truly need the Puritans.

J.I. Packer once wrote, “the great Puritan pastor-theologians – Owen, Baxter, Goodwin, Howe, Perkins, Sibbes, Brooks, Watson, Gurnall, Flavel, Bunyan, Manton, and others like them – were men of outstanding intellectual power, as well as spiritual insight. In them mental habits fostered by sober scholarship were linked with a flaming zeal for God and a minute acquaintance with the human heart. All their work displays this unique fusion of gifts and graces. In thought and outlook they were radically God-centered. Their appreciation of God’s sovereign majesty was profound, and their reverence in handling his written word was deep and constant. They were patient, thorough, and methodical in searching the Scriptures, and their grasp of the various threads and linkages in the web of revealed truth was firm and clear. They understood most richly the ways of God with men, the glory of Christ the Mediator, and the work of the Spirit in the believer and the church. And their knowledge was no mere theoretical orthodoxy…”

The delights of Puritans

I would not be writing this series if I were not personally acquainted with the great fruitfulness of Puritan study. The Puritans have matured my understanding of God, the Christian life, the idols of my heart, marriage and parenting. I have a deeper appreciation for the Cross, grace and the resurrection because of their words.

And here are a few other delightful benefits from the Puritans…

1. Cohesive biblical wisdom. As you can already see, the Puritans are an incredible source of biblical insight and application. They were skilled at seeing the big picture of the Christian life and then breaking that picture down into its various facets and details. Each sermon and every detail was presented in light of the big biblical themes and tied back to God Himself. What you will see in the coming weeks is that (as Packer would say) we “need” the Puritans. Even to this day there are no substitutes for their wisdom and perception in drawing us back to the big picture of God.

2. Well outlined sermons. Typical Puritan sermons provide the greatest help in my expositional research. These sermons are well outlined and very easy to navigate. Typically the whole purpose of the sermon is summarized in one nifty sentence towards the beginning of the sermon. And because these sermons are so well-organized, you can sift through them fairly quickly.

The pains of the Puritans

I won’t mislead you, there are a few pains involved in Puritan research.

1. Old words and Roman numerals. Four hundred year old literature comes with difficulties. There are words that are no longer in use today. And don’t think you can get along without memorizing Roman numerals. These are critical when you are researching Psalm lxxiii and verse 25. Be prepared to read a few sentences two or three times. Patience is important.

2. Puritan sermon style. There are some great Puritan commentaries. But for me, the most useful Puritan literature are the printed sermons (this series will focus specifically on these sermons). A typical Puritan sermon covers just one verse and rarely in the context of a broader book study. So here is the rub: The contemporary researcher (preaching through an entire book like Ephesians, for example) will need to collect and have a proper index to find Puritan literature on a given verse or topic. This is no small challenge and thankfully there are researchers who have given us great resources here (and some for free!). But if you can master this problem, and I will show you how, a library of Puritan sermons will come alive.

3. Errors. We must be on guard against the error of thinking that the Puritans were infallible. The Puritans had their errors. But this is the glory of old books. As C.S. Lewis once said, the errors in old books are easier to see than the errors in new books. Old errors are less deceptive, just as hindsight is 20/20.

For the delights and the pains, there are no substitutes for the Puritans. For every sermon I consult my trusted Puritan friends and grow from their wealth of wisdom and unparalleled seriousness with the bible. They will stretch you, challenge you and keep you accountable. But most importantly, they will cast a stern eye when you feel the pressure to compromise the biblical message.

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Next time… Part 2: The Rules of a Puritan Library

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Click here to access all posts in the The Puritan Study series.

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Coming up at The Shepherd’s Scrapbook…

Tony Reinke Great Quotes, Puritans

In the coming weeks we will be looking at more books but especially the Puritans.

Book reviews

This week I am hoping to complete two reviews of books that provide a very good introduction to systematic theology. The first is a reprint of Archibald Alexander and the second is John Frame’s new, Salvation Belongs to the Lord. Both are conversational and very enjoyable to read.

Also, we are finishing up a neat little book for children. Through the story of a boy and a spotless lamb the author reveals the significance of the atonement. I cannot wait to share with you soon.

Expositional Puritans

Then over the next few weeks I will begin a long series of articles of how I incorporate the Puritans (+ Spurgeon) into my expository studies. The Puritans have left us a wealth of sermons but each Puritan only covered a tiny bit of Scripture. So how does a verse-by-verse preacher use the Puritans effectively?

In light of this challenge, in the coming weeks I will show you how to build a Puritan library and use it to draw the best Puritan fruit from ANY verse in the Bible!

See you tomorrow and God bless.

Book review: An Exposition of the Prophecy of Hosea by Jeremiah Burroughs (1892777940)

Tony Reinke Book reviews, Books, BR > Reformation Heritage Books, Commentaries, Great Quotes, Puritans

Hosea

Hosea was a prophet called to speak to the Northern Kingdom, and although the book is fairly short (14 chapters), Hosea’s ministry was not (more than 70 years). Israel’s Northern kingdom had grown both prosperous and idolatrous, and Hosea was called in to remind them of their unfaithfulness.

The prophecies of Hosea continue in relevance and importance today. Simultaneously, as a culture grows prosperous, the heart grows idolatrous – and quickly forgets about God and the eternal things to come.

Burroughs writes, “It is easy for a minister of God to deal plainly with people in the time of adversity, but when men are in their pride and jollity, to deal faithfully with them is very difficult. That their great prosperity raised up and hardened their hearts with pride against the prophet appears plainly” (5-6).

Jeremiah Burroughs (c. 1600-1646)

Recently, Reformation Heritage Books, Inc. reprinted Jeremiah Burroughs classic commentary: An Exposition of the Prophecy of Hosea. Burroughs remains one of the most popular Puritan writers because of his warm devotional heart, keen exegetical eye, and sensitive perception to the sinful human heart. And these skills mark every page of his commentary.

Here is just one example.

Early in the commentary, Burroughs displays tremendous humility at the prospect of interpreting Scripture,

“… to the interpretation of Scripture, a Scripture frame of heart is necessary, a heart holy and heavenly, suitable to the holiness and heavenliness which are in the word … And because the authority of Scripture is supreme, we desire the prayers of you all to God for us that his fear may fall upon our hearts, that seeing we are men full of error and evil, yet we may not bring any scripture to maintain any erroneous conceit of our own heads nor any evil of our own hearts: this we know to be a dreadful evil” (2).

How many commentaries begin with an author stating an awareness of the “errors” and “evils” of his own heart and their danger in interpretation?

The commentary

The commentary was originally published in 4 volumes and is now printed in one large 700-page paperback volume. The text is clean and easy to read.

Burroughs actually died before he finished writing the 13th chapter. Thomas Hall completed chapter 13 and another famous Puritan, Edward Reynolds, completed chapter 14.

Big-picture overviews and help in discerning the major movements of Hosea are not the strengths of this commentary (nor most Puritan commentaries for that matter).

This commentary is high in value because, (as in most Puritan commentaries) the authors are skilled at unpacking each and every verse with dozens of observations. At times I was lost in the sheer volume of application that poured from each and every verse. Burroughs exemplifies the Puritan conviction that every verse in the bible, “is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16).

Hosea 6:6

“For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings”

For Hosea 6:6, I give a few of Burrough’s observations as an example of what typifies this commentary.

Now, if you are used to blitzing through blog posts, I encourage you to stop. Just stop. You will need to print these excerpts to get the full effect. The Puritans are not conducive to speed reading. Take these in slowly:

Obs. 1. Carnal hearts which make little conscience of their duties, and are very cruel in their dealings towards men, yet may be contented to submit to instituted worship. This very scripture, ‘I will have mercy, and not sacrifice,’ is a secret rebuke to such people. … Because men may be exercised in instituted worship without any power of godliness, the outward act of performance is a very easy work to flesh and blood, there is little difficulty in it. Because it has the most show of the power of godliness; they seem to be as sincere as any in their worship, there is a great show in the flesh, in the outward man; whereas God’s worship is inward, soul worship, which carnal hearts cannot endure, nor do they desire it, it is outside worship which they prize.

Obs. 2. Carnal men think to satisfy their consciences by joining in outward ordinances. Thus did they in this place think to put off God and their own consciences, by living in the external acts of worship, while they continued in the love of known sin. What a deal of stir [provoking] had the prophet to convince these hypocrites of this their wickedness!

Obs. 4. The Lord has a high esteem of mercy; and it appears in this, that he will have it preferred before sacrifice, and this is called, a ‘sacrifice acceptable,’ and a sweet savor in God’s nostrils, Phil. 4:18. … O Christians! Imitate God in this, let your esteems of mercy be raised higher than ever before, from this that you have heard concerning its excellency. The works of mercy are glorious works, there is more in such than in those acts of religion which men think are more spiritual. I speak the more of this, because it is a scandal [testimony] which is laid upon godly men by the men of the world, that they are miserable and close-handed; now in this we should labor to convince the world by the practice of mercy.

Obs. 5. It is the Christian’s skill, when two duties come together, which to choose. This is a snare in which many Christians are caught and foiled; they think both must be done at the same time, whereas the one is the duty, the other not.

Obs. 6. Though the object of an action be spiritual, yet it is not a sufficient ground to prefer it before another action, whose object may be but natural. The ordinances of God have God for their object, and the enjoying of communion with him; yet in the performance of other actions which may be only natural, I may show more obedience to God than in offering up of sacrifice.

Obs. 7. If God’s own worship may be forborne in case of mercy, how much more men’s institutions and inventions!

Obs. 8. God will have mercy rather than disputing about sacrifices. Suppose there be a truth in that which is disputed about, yet God in this case will have mercy rather than sacrifice, rather than mercy shall be neglected he will have sacrifices omitted.

Obs. 9. Mercy must be preferred before our own wills and lusts. God is contented, that we may perform our duties to our brethren, to forbear his own ordinances; and shall we stand upon our wills and humors? O proud spirit, that exalteth thyself against the Lord; we must be content to deny ourselves very far for the public good, and for our brethren’s sake, since God is please to bear with men so far, as for a time to be without that honor, which he should have from men in their acknowledgment of him in public service.

Obs. 11. The duties of the first and second table are to be joined together. Mercy and sacrifice, knowledge of God and burnt-offerings, when in their place, are acceptable, therefore let us take heed of separating that which God has joined.

Obs. 12. The knowledge of God is a most excellent thing. This is that which sanctifies God’s name, and manifests him to be very glorious in the world. Paul accounted all things but loss and dung in comparison of the excellency of this knowledge of Christ. Instruct then your children and servants in this knowledge, else how can God have his glory from them? How few are there which glorify God as God! And the reason is, because of the ignorance which is in their minds, Eph. 4:18.

Obs. 13. Men may be very diligent in instituted worship, and yet very ignorant. None so acted in their instituted worship as these people, yet none so ignorant as they.

Obs. 14. Soul-worship must be preferred before all other worship. We must not give God a carrion service, a carcass without a soul.

All of these comments come from just 2 pages in the commentary! Multiply this times 350 and you see that this blog post is only a handful of application that originates from a mountain of truth. Spurgeon was right when he said this commentary is “A vast treasure-house of experimental exposition.”

Reformation Heritage Books has served expositors well in their commitment to reprinting a priceless commentary on Hosea that will certainly spur preachers on to put major significance on one minor prophet.


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Commentaries > OT > Minor Prophets > Hosea

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An Exposition of the Prophecy of Hosea, Jeremiah Burroughs, 9781892777942 , 1892777940, oversized paperback, 700 pages, Bible translation: KJV, $50.00/$38.00

Keeping your quotes in order

Tony Reinke Books, Exegesis, Great Quotes, Pastoral Ministry, Preacher's study, Preaching notes, Reading, Shepherding, spurgeon

Frequently pastors ask me to explain my method of indexing quotes. You are looking at it, really.

1. Value blogs

One of the primary reasons for launching this blog was to allow myself enough categories to track quotes easily and to have the freedom of classifying quotes into multiple categories. You, too, may find it helpful to start your own blog simply for the purpose of keeping quotes in order.

But here are a few more suggestions to keeping your library well-indexed…

2. Value commentaries

I intentionally avoid a lot of “contemporary issues” books. There are thousands of books out there on the newest controversies, debates and methods. While these can be helpful, they can also be an overwhelming time-consumer and impossible to adequately index for a busy pastor. Start to collect a few hundred of these books and it becomes easy to forget what issues you have already covered.

So my goal has always been to spend more money on commentaries than on topical books. As an expositor, this has proven very helpful over the years. If you do not index well or don’t have the time, buy the very best commentaries you can. They need no indexing (and will hold their value better over time).

[Speaking of excellent commentaries, tomorrow we will look at Jeremiah Burroughs’ commentary on Hosea, recently re-printed by Reformation Heritage Books.]

3. Value a book with a good index

If you must, look for topical books with scriptural and subject indexes in the back. Someone has done the indexing for you.

4. Value an organized library

Be certain to group your topical books that cover the same issue. It may be nice to categorize your library by author, but it’s not practical. A few weeks ago I posted my library database here so you can see how I grouped my topical books (click here for the .pdf).

5. Value a database

Another useful tool is assembling a simple Excel database for quotes. Here is a .pdf version of my very small but growing index.

Hopefully these simple suggestions will help maximize your study time and feed your flocks more efficiently.