# Reading the Puritans



## Randall Pederson (Jul 18, 2004)

Hello everyone,

I'm currently working on a small book (about 125 pages) called 'Reading the Puritans'. I hope to have it finished by the end of summer or beginning of fall. I need your help, however. If you can answer these questions that would indeed be most helpful:

1. What Puritans have you found the easiest to read?
2. What Puritans were most difficult and why?
3. What is your favorite Puritan book?

Well, that's it. For now! Thanks.

Randall


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## Reena Wilms (Jul 18, 2004)

1. What Puritans have you found the easiest to read? 
* Thomas Watson

2. What Puritans were most difficult and why? 
* John Owen

3. What is your favorite Puritan book? 
* David Brainerd - Dairy
* Jeremiah Burroughs - Gospel Worship


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## SmokingFlax (Jul 19, 2004)

Well...usually the books I find easiest to read are also my favorites as I'm getting spiritually fed.

I really liked John Flavel's [u:eb3ef3815d]Mystery of Providence[/u:eb3ef3815d] ...very edifying.

Jeremiah Burroughs' [u:eb3ef3815d]The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment[/u:eb3ef3815d] was very good also, although very convicting and therefore "difficult" in a certain sense...but that's why the Puritans are so great!

I think that the more I read the old 17th century stuff the easier it gets as I get accustomed to their style and mannerisms.

I think that (for me) I had the hardest time finding a good reading rhythm in William Ames' [u:eb3ef3815d]Marrow of Theology[/u:eb3ef3815d] -but that's probably because I was being very careful not to pass over his teaching too hastily as I've only just recently started to go through theology in a systematic way, point by point.


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## Reena Wilms (Jul 19, 2004)

Iam sorry i forgot at :
"2. What Puritans were most difficult and why? "

Jonathan Edwards - The freedom of the will. 

I heard that this books was to considerd as one of the best books on the will. But when i started, it was for me difficult to go though it, because it is also pretty like philosofy. Does any knows if there is is like a summary or a book written about "Freedom of the will", so that it will be better to understand what Edwards means, or is this written in "Rational theology of E-J", from Gerstner ?

Ralph


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## JohnV (Jul 19, 2004)

[quote:9d32a2acf3="Reena Wilms"]Iam sorry i forgot at :
"2. What Puritans were most difficult and why? "

Jonathan Edwards - The freedom of the will. 

I heard that this books was to considerd as one of the best books on the will. But when i started, it was for me difficult to go though it, because it is also pretty like philosofy. Does any knows if there is is like a summary or a book written about "Freedom of the will", so that it will be better to understand what Edwards means, or is this written in "Rational theology of E-J", from Gerstner ?

Ralph[/quote:9d32a2acf3]

Hi Ralph:
The first time I read this book it was even harder. It was a typed like it was written. That was hard. 

Since then, I've gotten an updated copy. That made it easier, but was still hard to follow. Now I happen to know a scholar, one who has done quite a bit of work on Edwards. He gave me a photo-copied work that analyses and summarizes the arguments. I don't know where it is off hand, and so I can't tell you where it was taken from. I'll see if I can find it for you. I found it to be very helpful.


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## Reena Wilms (Jul 19, 2004)

Dear John,

Thanks. If you get it, or if you know where i can order an updated copy, iam very intresed in. Do you if there is an explanation of the ";;freedom of will";; in a Rational theology of J-E by Gerstner ?

Ralph


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## JohnV (Jul 19, 2004)

Ralph:

No, I don't know that. The paper I have, if I remember, is either a dissertation by a doctoral candidate, or is a research paper done for a symposium. I know I have it somewhere. It's not in a book form for me, since it is photo-copied, so I'll have to dig around in some boxes for it. It's been a few years since I last looked at it.

I once did a study on ";;free will";;. I was in a church setting in which the pastor opposed man's free will with God's sovereignty. He also denied ";;common grace.";; So I went into the matter somewhat. 

Very basically, Jonathan Edwards does not deny free will, but redefines it. He demonstrates quite definitively that the Arminian view of free will is not free will at all, because it denies two things: that the sovereign God is truly free; and that true freedom for man is in doing God's will, not his own. The latter, doing his own will, is actually the cause of the Fall, and cannot be the cause of redemption.

He goes into extended detail about the extent of will, the cause of will, the purpose of will, etc., and how it relates to man's actions. THese are details that are difficult for us to understand because we are so diffused with modern psychology, more than we think. The Puritan psychology, I think, was better founded than our modern one. But it does take a shift in gears to comprehend what he is saying. But if you don't understand it, that's OK. Go through it anyways, and take from it what you can. It is still the difinitive Calvinistic work on Free Will. 

What I've said above is from memory, vague as that may be. I'll look for the paper later today, when I have a better opportunity to tear into things. I'll also relate to you the publisher of my copy of Free Will, by J-E., so you can look for that book as well. If I recall, I got it through Ligonier, R.C. Sproul's org. You can google it to look for it, if you like. I do seem to remember that Gerstner's son, John Gerstner, handed me the book, recommending it on behalf of his late father.


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## Reena Wilms (Jul 19, 2004)

Thank you John for your mial and details that still have from your memory. Im looking foreward if you have more information.
As i aks before do you have rational theology of J-E of Gerstner ?

Ralph


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## panicbird (Jul 19, 2004)

I too would like to get a hand on that paper. I have [i:62e20e0246]Freedom of the Will[/i:62e20e0246] in Edwards' two-volume works. Is that the one that is supposed to be so hard to read? I have not yet tried to tackle it.

Lon


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## JohnV (Jul 19, 2004)

[quote:091335ad46="panicbird"]I too would like to get a hand on that paper. I have [i:091335ad46]Freedom of the Will[/i:091335ad46] in Edwards' two-volume works. Is that the one that is supposed to be so hard to read? I have not yet tried to tackle it.

Lon[/quote:091335ad46]

I don't have those volumes, but I suspect that it is not the one I read first. The one I first had was in the exact vernacular of Edward's day, I think. But even the more modern versions are hard to follow, but more because his arguments are quite intense, complicated. I'll pass it on to you too, Lon.


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## panicbird (Jul 19, 2004)

Thanks John.

Lon


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## JohnV (Jul 19, 2004)

Ok, I got it. I mean, I found it. 

It's a paper done by C. Samuel Storms, whom some of you may know of from Believers' Bible Chapel in Dallas. It's a write-up from the Trinity Journal, marked as TrinJ NS (1982) 131-169. It is titled [u:232d102b84]Jonathan Edwards on the Freedom of the Will[/u:232d102b84]. It is about 37 pages in length. I don't know if it's online anywhere. Try googling it, and see what comes up. My copy is not for distribution. 

My edition of The Freedom of the Will is published by Soli Deo Gloria, and is taken from an edition published by Thomas Nelson in London, 1845. My copy is a reprinting dated 1996. My source tells me that this is a fairly good exposition.

Meanwhile. I'll try to google too. Maybe between the three of us we can find something.


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## Reena Wilms (Jul 19, 2004)

Dear John & panicbird,

I found this about J-Edwards on the will :
http://www.geocities.com/sdgiesedts2001/EDWARDS7.htm

I hope that this will help ?

Ralph


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