A Guide to the Puritans by Robert P Martin
Published by the Banner of Truth Trust. Hardback, 546 pages, £12.95. Available at the Free Presbyterian Bookroom, 133 Woodlands Road, Glasgow G3 6LE.
THIS book represents a tremendous amount of work in cataloguing the published writings of the Puritans and others deemed to be in the same tradition. The first section catalogues sermons and other writings under topical headings such as, to quote from a particular page, Free-will and Free-agency, Friendship, Fruit (Spiritual), Glorification, Glorifying God, and God, which last is subdivided as follows: Acceptance with, Attributes of, Children of, Compassion of, Decree(s) of, etc. There follows a scripture index, in which the same material is classified according to the passage of Scripture on which it is based. There are some further briefer lists of material such as biographical material and sermons on special occasions.
This is not a book to be read through, but it will surely prove useful to anyone looking for something by a reliable author on a particular topic. There are occasional brief comments on the material. The author has imposed a number of restrictions on his work: it is confined to material which has been recently in print; commentaries are completely omitted (because Spurgeon tackled this area of writing in his Commenting and Commentaries); Spurgeon’s sermons are also not included (because a textual index for them is already available); twentieth century writings are confined to those published by the Banner of Truth Trust.
The writers quoted are men whose writings can be highly recommended with few reservations. And if this volume will result in a greater use of the tremendous heritage of Reformed literature which has been handed down to us by previous generations it will prove valuable indeed. The author is pastor of a Baptist church in Seattle, USA.
Rev. K. D. Macleod