# The Best of the Best



## VirginiaHuguenot (Dec 7, 2006)

Next to the Bible...

...what would you say is the best Christian book ever written?

Would you agree with J.I. Packer who said of Richard Baxter's _A Christian Directory_ that next to the Bible it was:



> ...the greatest Christian book ever written.



How about Jonathan Edwards who said of Petrus van Mastricht's _Theoretico-Practica Theologia_ that it was:



> ...much better than Turretine or any other book in the world, excepting the Bible, in my opinion.



Or what about Thomas Hooker and Increase Mather who said that William Ames' _The Marrow of Theology_ was:



> ...the most important book beyond the Bible for making a sound theologian.



Mather added that "it was the only book other than the Bible that was a necessary prerequisite for entering the ministry."

What about John Bunyan's _The Pilgrim's Progress_, often cited as one of the most published books besides the Bible?

How about John Calvin's _Institutes of the Christian Religion_, often cited as the most influential work of the Reformation?

What about Augustine's _Confessions_ or _The City of God_, both of which have stood the test of time?

How about John Foxe's _Book of Martyrs_, which made such a lasting impression upon millions of people during and after the Reformation?

What about Matthew Henry's best-selling commentary on the Bible, or Charles Spurgeon who said of Matthew Poole's commentary:



> If I must have only one commentary, and had read Matthew Henry as I have, I do not know but what I should choose Poole.



What about the works of John Owen? Jonathan Edwards? Thomas Watson? Charles Spurgeon? Samuel Rutherford? William Guthrie? William Perkins? Martin Luther? Who else? 

Let's hear your favorite book next to the Bible and the thoughts behind your selection.

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## staythecourse (Dec 7, 2006)

*Ethel the Aardvark goes Quantity Surveying*

That's about my level.


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Dec 7, 2006)

And now for something completely different...!


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## staythecourse (Dec 7, 2006)

After that silliness, I'd have to say for me so far Matthew Henry's commentary.


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Dec 8, 2006)

staythecourse said:


> After that silliness, I'd have to say for me so far Matthew Henry's commentary.



Thanks!

Anyone else?


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## caddy (Dec 8, 2006)

So many good ones to choose from. Every age has had their lot of excellent works. 

Early it was Augustine with _City of God, Confessions._
Middle/Late Ages: John Foxe's _Book of Martyrs, Pilgrim's Progress, Bondage __of the Will_
Late: I honestly cannot begin to choose. Personally--it was Boettner's 
Work _Predestination _that was radical in my life. I am not sure it 
would rank among the greats however.


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## LadyCalvinist (Dec 8, 2006)

That's a tough one.
I just started Augustine's Confessions and have not read his City of God yet, but of what I have read I would have to inlclude these:
Calvin - the Institutes (probably the most important for understanding the Bible)
Bunyan - Pilgrim's Progress (wonderful book on the Christian pilgrimmage that we all are on)
Tozer - The Pursuit of God (humbling, and boy did that book make me pray)


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## MrMerlin777 (Dec 8, 2006)

Augustine: The City of God.


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## 3John2 (Dec 9, 2006)

Going only by what I have actually read or am in the process of reading I would say "Desiring God" by John Piper, "Holiness of God" by Sproul, & Wayne Grudems "Systematic Theology". Like I said only what I've read I've got the rest of my lifetime to read everyone elses!!


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Dec 10, 2006)

Thanks everybody! Keep your thoughts comin'!


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## bookslover (Dec 10, 2006)

VirginiaHuguenot said:


> Thanks everybody! Keep your thoughts comin'!



Hmmm. Can't decide between Chick Tracts and the Cottonpatch "translation" of the Bible.

But, seriously:

_Christianity and Liberalism_ by J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937)

_Confessions_ by Augustine (354-430)

_The Death of Death in the Death of Christ_ by John Owen (1616-1683) and J. I. Packer's introduction, a work which has taken on a life of it's own!

an article, "What Did the Cross Achieve?: The Logic of Penal Substitution" by J. I. Packer (born 1926) from 1974, now available in his _Collected Shorter Writings_ (volume 1) from 1998 - one of the finest expositions on the atonement I've ever read.


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Dec 17, 2006)

Thanks folks! Any more nominations / thoughts?


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Dec 19, 2006)

Samuel Rogers said of his father Daniel Rogers' _Treatise on the Two Sacraments_ that he 



> could misse any booke lesse except [the] bible.



(Cf. Tom Webster, _Godly Clergy in Early Stuart England: The Caroline Puritan Movement c. 1620 -- 1643_, p. 283)


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## JohnV (Dec 19, 2006)

Three books that I think are a "must read" are:

Mere Christianity, by C. S. Lewis;

The God Who is There, by F. A. Schaeffer;

City of God, by Augustine.

Only the last one, though, would qualify as a "most important book". There are other books that have done the same for others what the first two have done for me. When I read them I was "ready" for them, I suppose. They were important to me at a pivotal time in my growth. 

But as to a "most important book other than the Bible" I would suggest a set of encyclopedia, a dictionary, and Strong's Concordance. I know, that's three. But I just can't imagine my studies of the Bible without them. There are many who have not read City of God, but not many who have not referred to any one of these or all of them often.


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## Me Died Blue (Dec 19, 2006)

VirginiaHuguenot said:


> Samuel Rogers said of his father Daniel Rogers' _Treatise on the Two Sacraments_ that he
> 
> 
> 
> (Cf. Tom Webster, _Godly Clergy in Early Stuart England: The Caroline Puritan Movement c. 1620 -- 1643_, p. 283)



Is there much information available on Rogers or his book?


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Dec 20, 2006)

Me Died Blue said:


> Is there much information available on Rogers or his book?



There is a biographical sketch of Daniel Rogers (1573 -- September 1652) found in Benjamin Brooks' _Lives of the Puritans_ here, who describes him as being "classed among the learned writers and fellows of Christ's College, Cambridge, and styled a divine of vast parts." I have not read any of the five works by him listed in Brooks' bibliography but his _Matrimoniall Honour_ is cited often by J.I. Packer and others who write on the Puritan view of marriage. The full title of this particular work is: _Treatise of the two sacraments of the Gospell: Baptisme and the Svpper of the Lord. Divided into two parts. The first treating of the doctrine and nature of the sacraments in generall, and of these two in speciall; together with the circumstances attending them. The second containing the manner of our due preparation to the receiving of the Supper of the Lord; as also, of our behaviour in and after the same. Whereunto is annexed an appendix, shewing; first, how a Christian may finde his preparation to the Supper sweete and easie: secondly, the causes why the sacrament is so unworthily received byt he worst; and so fruitlessly by the better sort: with the remedies to avoyd them both. The third edition._ (1636).


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## Blueridge Believer (Dec 20, 2006)

There are so many good ones and I thank God for them all. If I could only have just one, I guess it would be Pilgrims Progress.


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Jan 2, 2007)

The "primary" divinity book at Yale University in the early days was Johannes Wollebius's _The Abridgement of Christian Divinitie_.



> Wollebius's book was of such importance, Samuel Johnson (Class of 1714) noted sarcastically, that it was "considered with equal or greater veneration than the Bible itself."

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## VirginiaHuguenot (Jan 10, 2007)

R.C. Sproul:



> Pelagianism has a death grip on the modern church. Perhaps the most important refutation of this distinctive is Edwards' _Freedom of the Will_. I believe this is the most important theological book ever published in America.


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Jan 29, 2007)

From _Meet the Puritans_, ed. by Joel Beeke and Randall Pederson, p. 416, concerning Walter Marshall's _The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification_:



> Of this book, James Hervey stated that if he were banished to a desert island and could take only a Bible and two other books, Marshall's classic would be among them.


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Feb 18, 2007)

Joel Beeke, _Puritan Reformed Spirituality_, p. 139:



> Thomas Goodwin said that "next to the Bible, he esteemed Dr. [William] Ames his Marrow of Divinity as the best book in the world.[31]
> 
> [31] Increase Mather, "To the Reader," in James Fitch, _The First Principles of the Doctrine of Christ_ (Boston, 1679)


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Feb 18, 2007)

Philip Schaff, _Creeds of Christendom_, Vol. I, p. 789:



> The moderate and judicious Richard Baxter esteemed the Westminster Confession and Catechisms the best books in his library next to the Bible...


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Mar 3, 2007)

From the February 2007 issue of _Tolle Lege_ from Reformation Heritage Books:



> Here is Dr. Joel Beeke's response to the question, "If you were stranded on a desert island, and could only have one book with beside the Bible, which book would you choose?"
> 
> Without a doubt, Wilhelmus a Brakel's _The Christian's Reasonable Service_ -- and not just because I would be getting four volumes for one!


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Mar 12, 2007)

Martin Luther said of Philip Melanchthon's _Loci Communes Theologici_:



> Next to Holy Scripture, there is no better book.


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Mar 13, 2007)

John Newton:



> If I might read only one book beside the Bible, I would choose [William Gurnall's] _The Christian in Complete Armour_.


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## ReformedDave (Mar 13, 2007)

Calvin's Institutes, Augustine's "City of God" and I agree with Joel Beeke's assessment concerning Wilhelmus a Brakel's The Christian's Reasonable Service. 

Now where's that island??????


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## No Longer A Libertine (Mar 13, 2007)

The Purpose Driven life comes to mind, it gave me purpose...to burn every copy in circulation.

On a serious note Calvin's Institutes and Owen's Death of Death seem to be the masterpieces of the Western Christian faith.


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