# Essential Puritan and Reformer Reads?



## Carl Copsey (Apr 11, 2014)

I'm sure this has been done before, but maybe selections have changed. Two questions.

1) If you chose, out of ALL the puritans (and reformers), but could only choose a handful of books, what would your favorite, or rather, essential Puritan (or reformed) selections be.

2) Who do you believe to be the most foundational and important Puritan and important Reformer, aside from John Calvin and Martin Luther?


My answer:

1) a. Wilhelmus à Brakel (A Christians Reasonable Service, 4 Volumes) 
b. The Works of John Owen
c. Jeremiah Burroughs (Gospel Series)

2) John Knox


----------



## SynodOfDort (Apr 11, 2014)

Carl Copsey said:


> My answer:
> 
> 1) a. Wilhelmus à Brakel (A Christians Reasonable Service, 4 Volumes) & Jeremiah Burroughs (His Works)
> 
> 2) John Knox




1) Francis Turretin & a Brakel

2) ditto to John Knox. In my humble opinion the United States of America wouldn't exist w/o him. BTW he is featured on today's Renewing Your Mind podcast!

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk


----------



## reaganmarsh (May 2, 2014)

1. William Ames, Marrow of Theology
2. Edward Fisher, Marrow of Modern Divinity
3. John Owen, Mortification of Sin
4. Herman Witsius, Economy of the Covenants

To this list I'll add a Brakel, Christian's Reasonable Service (though I'm not very far in it yet!)


----------



## belin (May 3, 2014)

1) a. Works of John Owen (esp. Glory of Christ, On Holy Spirit, Death of Death, and Mortification of Sin)
b. Matthew Henry (Commentary & Method for Prayer)
c. Thomas Watson - all books 
d. Works of John Bunyan, (esp. Pilgrim's Progress and Greatness of the Soul)

2) Another vote for John Knox


----------



## Jash Comstock (May 3, 2014)

1. Calvin's institutes - The first magnum opus of Reformed theology.
2. Luther's bondage of the will 
3. John Owens's _Works
_4. Thomas Brooks's _Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices _


I'm also for Knox.


----------



## Logan (May 3, 2014)

Just a note: Brooks wrote _Precious Remedies_, and that's a very good suggestion.


----------



## Jash Comstock (May 3, 2014)

Logan said:


> Just a note: Brooks wrote _Precious Remedies_, and that's a very good suggestion.



You're right, I got mixed up. Sorry about that


----------



## Sylvanus (May 3, 2014)

1) Works of Thomas Brooks (especially Precious Remedies)
2) Rutherford, _Lex Rex_


----------



## Matthew Willard Lankford (May 3, 2014)

1) a. Thomas Vincent (The True Christian's Love to the Unseen Christ, The Only Deliverer from Wrath to Come, Words Whereby We May be Saved, The Good Work Begun)
b. Isaac Ambrose (Prima, Media, Et Ultima, Or, the First, Middle, and Last Things, Looking unto Jesus, The Christian Warrior)
c. John Foxe (Foxe's Book of Martyrs)

2) William Tyndale


----------



## chatwithstumac (May 3, 2014)

1) A-John Gill ot/nt commentary B-J.C. Ryle Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

2) Theodore Beza


----------



## rbcbob (May 4, 2014)

chatwithstumac said:


> 1) A-John Gill ot/nt commentary B-J.C. Ryle Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
> 
> 2) Theodore Beza



Neither Gill nor Ryle were Puritan or Reformed. Not meaning to negate their various contributions but they do not meet the criteria of the OP.


----------



## jwithnell (May 4, 2014)

Jonathan Edwards would have to be in the mix, given he had respect on both sides of the Atlantic in his day. His work on religious affections is important both for understanding something of the experiential aspect of the faith as well as serving as a primary source for interpretating the events Great Awakening. Martin Luther's _Bondage of the Will _was a foundation in my own understanding of the doctrines of grace, and I suspect that's true for many others too. I appreciated _Table Talk_ for getting a glimpse into how his students were receiving his teaching, but it's been many years since I've read it.


----------



## Sylvanus (May 4, 2014)

I was thinking about Edwards, but I suppose it's how you define the term "Puritan" or "Reformer"


----------



## MarieP (May 7, 2014)

rbcbob said:


> Neither Gill nor Ryle were Puritan or Reformed.



Could you please elaborate? Why is Ryle called the "last Puritan"? What excludes him from being "Reformed"- his Anglicanism? Is it Gill's hyper-Calvinistic tendencies that keep him from the Reformed label? Thanks, Pastor Bob!


----------



## MW (May 7, 2014)

Remarkably the Puritan Paperbacks series from Banner of Truth has hit on works which are all essential reading for their topics, very important for grasping reformed principles in their practical bearing, and made just that little bit easier to access and read (although one should probably look for newer bindings if the desire is to read the book without it falling apart).


----------



## rbcbob (May 8, 2014)

Marie, Ryle, though in a number of ways, was a kindred spirit with the Puritans but he is chronologically misplaced (as are such kindred spirits in our own day). Further he, like Gurnall was able to remain in the Church of England with a good conscience while the overwhelming majority of "Puritans" exited and sought a more ecclesiastically pure communion. Gill was indeed a hypercalvinist, but it is the fact that he was Baptist that he cannot be reconciled with the Reformed, strictly, i.e. Continental Reformed. Whether or not he would have been a "fit" within Reformed Baptist Soteriology and Ecclesiology makes for good debate.


----------



## chatwithstumac (May 8, 2014)

Still no votes for Beza?


----------



## MW (May 8, 2014)

rbcbob said:


> while the overwhelming majority of "Puritans" exited and sought a more ecclesiastically pure communion.



The Puritans, technically, remained within the Church of England and sought further reformation. Those who sought a more ecclesiastically pure communion were called Brownists, Separatists, and Independents.


----------



## rbcbob (May 8, 2014)

Were not 2,000 of their finest "invited" to leave?


----------



## MW (May 8, 2014)

rbcbob said:


> Were not 2,000 of their finest "invited" to leave?



They were "ejected."


----------



## au5t1n (May 10, 2014)

One thing I don't think has been mentioned yet that I believe is essential for those who begin reading Puritans is to read one or more of the life manuals or "Christian Directories" that so many of them wrote. These put Puritan doctrine into practical, pastoral advice about living life - morning and evening meditation and prayer habits, how to spend the Lord's Day, how to read the Bible, how to walk with God in one's work, recreation, fellowship, etc. These are very useful, and they show practically how the Puritans endeavored to live out the doctrine which they taught. 

I believe an excellent starting point to be Henry Scudder's The Christian's Daily Walk in Holy Security and Peace. It is available on Google Books for free and is among the most profitable books I've ever read. 

Sent from my XT557 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## bookslover (May 14, 2014)

> Impossible question.



Joshua, there are no impossible questions. There are only impossible answers. [insert mystical-sounding mood music here]


----------



## Josh Williamson (May 14, 2014)

1) Works of John Bunyan
2) Works of William Tyndale


----------



## Abeard (May 14, 2014)

1a) Sibbes
b) Watson
c) Flavel
d) Rutherford's letters

2)William Perkins


----------



## PuritanCovenanter (May 14, 2014)

Jeremiah Burroughs Gospel Worship
John Owen The Death of Death / Sin and Temptation / Mortification
Thomas Watson The Art of Divine Contentment
Samuel Rutherford The Covenant of Life Opened
James Durham The Ten Commandments

Those are some of my favorites but as Joshua noted,,,, "Impossible question."

I would also recommend two more books but He wasn't a Puritan so to speak. William Symington's

http://www.amazon.com/Atonement-Intercession-Jesus-Christ/dp/1892777487/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1400108476&sr=1-6&keywords=William+Symington

http://www.amazon.com/Messiah-Princ...eywords=Messiah+the+Prince+Crown+and+Covenant 

[h=3][/h]


----------

