Best Set of Online Bible Commentaries

If you are interested in quality Reformed Bible commentaries, and your book budget is limited or you appreciate the benefits of being able to search online, be sure to bookmark this page at Reformed Books Online (RBO): Bible Commentaries.

Travis Fentiman has done yeoman's work to assemble most of the highest rated commentaries identified by Charles Spurgeon, Richard Muller, Cyril J. Barber and others in one place where they are easily accessible online. Of particular interest to readers of this blog, there are so many Puritan and Reformation-era Bible commentaries that are now accessible.

This is a fantastic resource, and I highly commend it to all students of the Word of God.

Here is a more thorough overview of what this resource entails:

This is the best and largest collection of Bible commentaries on the net (a total of 2,200+).  It includes, but is not limited to:

– Every commentary that Charles Spurgeon gave his top recommendation (3 stars  *** ) and ‘good’ recommendation (2 stars  ** ) to in his Commenting and Commentaries  (1876);

– Every Reformed, Puritan or otherwise good commentary we could find on PRDL and EEBO that is in English;

– Every relevant commentary  mentioned by Dr. Richard Muller in his survey of the major Reformation and Puritan era commentaries in McKim’s Historical Handbook of Major Biblical Interpreters  Buy  that is in English and online;

– Most all of the older Bible commentaries that a Bible-believer would be interested in, that are free online (in the public domain, pre-1920’s);

– The best of the commentaries listed in Cyril J. Barber’s The Minister’s Library (1974), including his top recommendations;

– The major commentaries from the Early and Medieval Churches that have been translated into English;

– And many more.

The Best works are at the top of each page.  More commentaries follow under the sub-sections: 1500’s, 1600’s, Simple & Practical, Intermediate, Advanced.

Commentaries in larger subsections have not been reduplicated on the pages of the individual books, except as Spurgeon or Barber commented on them.  Some of the best commentaries are on those pages, so be sure to check them as well.

In the days ahead (Deo volente) we hope to add much more to this collection, including works in Latin and a selection of the better contemporary commentaries (only a few are present as is).  

While contemporary commentaries have their benefits (they are typically more uniform, focus on exegesis, bring in archaeology, have some updated research, etc.), they are, as a whole (with few exceptions), seriously deficient in deep, savory, godliness.  They will feed you information, but not your eternal soul.  On the other hand, not only do many 1800’s commentaries often have more thorough scholarship in them than many contemporary commentaries (for instance, see Jamieson-Fausset-Brown in Whole Bible Commentaries), but in reading older puritan commentaries from the Reformation age, one not only grows in knowledge, but finds depths of soul-stirring communion with our Eternal and Beloved God.

Spurgeon’s justly famous, helpful and often humorous comments and evaluations have been quoted under the titles where possible.  His scale is as follows: 

*** – ‘Heartily recommended’ ** – ‘Good, but more ordinary’ * – ‘Least desirable’

Do note that Spurgeon’s recommendations were for whether a late-1800’s seminary student preparing to be a preacher should buy a certain commentary.  As some commentaries were very pricey and scarce in Spurgeon’s day, he sometimes gave a lower rating to certain commentaries than what they otherwise deserve, and his emphasis is on whether a given work will be helpful to a preacher or not.  By God’s grace, we have many more of these works available to us than what even Spurgeon and his readers had available to them in their own day.

Cyril J. Barber’s comments have been added where possible as well.  He was a late-1900’s evangelical pastor and bibliophile who reprinted many of the best works he commends through (the now defunct) Klock & Klock Publishers (which commentaries should be purchased immediately if found).

Not every commentary is reformed, as truth may appreciated, and should be desired, wherever it is found.  A number of broadly evangelical works have been included (especially in the mid-1900’s) at Barber’s recommendation. 

Please note, in relation to this collection, the words of Spurgeon:

‘It is to be specially noted, that in no case do we endorse all that any author has written in his commentary.  We could not read the works through, it would have needed a Methuselah to do that; nor have we thought it needful to omit a book because it contains a measure of error, provided it is useful in its own way; for this catalog is for thoughtful, discerning men, and not for children.  

We have not, however, knowingly mentioned works whose main drift is skeptical, or Socinian, except with a purpose; and where we have admitted comments by writers of doubtful doctrine, because of their superior scholarship and the correctness of their criticisms we have given hints which will be enough for the wise.  It is sometimes very useful to know what our opponents have to say.’

Do note that, while liberal theology is in serious, fundamental, unbelieving error, some of the better, more conservative liberal works (usually noted as such) from the mid-late 1800’s and early 1900’s have been included on these pages as they often contain a wealth of information that can be found nowhere else (which is particularly valuable for the advanced student if one is looking for exhaustive information on a particular text).  These works are usually in the advanced sections of the webpages (as liberals rarely wrote anything that fed anyone’s soul).  Barber often relates why the particular work is useful.  Needless to say:  Beware of their presuppositions, eat the meat, spit out the bones, and feed upon the vast majority of the commentaries that hold forth God’s Truth in shining fullness.

Many of the works on these pages can be bought on Amazon and BookFinder. A book in hand is worth two on the computer.

Please enjoy thoroughly to the glory of God, and tell your friends.

 

RBO is the Place to Go

I want to highlight a very valuable website which is fast becoming a go-to repository of some of the best Reformed reading material on the Internet: Reformed Books Online. It is run by my friend Travis Fentiman, who is a licentiate in the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing). I am a contributor to the site as well. 

There are a number of great websites around which have assembled collections of Reformed literature. I recommend the Post-Reformation Digital Library, Monergism, A Puritan's Mind and others. But as RBO has grown and expanded (and continues to do so weekly), I think it has become a site that all Reformed Christians will find to be simply invaluable as it makes available and accessible material from the time of the Reformation forward to the present on such a wide range of topics that readers of this blog will appreciate.

For example, those interested in Psalmody, Psalters or the Establishment Principle or the writings of the Westminster Divines or Scottish Covenanters will have hours and hours of edifying reading. If you desire to read all Reformed Systematic Theologies available online, and much, much more [see also several recommended reading lists here], RBO is the place to go.

Nooks and Books

Thomas à Kempis, author of The Imitation of Christ, which is said to be (next to the Bible) the most-translated book in world history, had a saying: "In omnibus requiem quaesivi, sed non inveni, nisi in hoexkens ende boexkens" -- "I have sought everywhere for peace, but I have found it not save in nooks and in books."

His magnum opus was recommended reading by divines such as Gisbertus Voetius, Willem Teellinck, Wilhemus à Brakel, Henry Scougal, Richard Baxter, and Thomas Chalmers, among others. Read him as he wished to be read -- with discernment in the Lord. Here is some wisdom gleaned from à Kempis, a man who both studied much and loved much, on the place of books in the Christian life:

If thou knewest the whole Bible, and the sayings of all the philosophers, what should all this profit thee without the love and grace of God? (Book 1, Chapter 1)

Of a surety, at the Day of Judgment it will be demanded of us, not what we have read, but what we have done; not how well we have spoken, but how holily we have lived. (Book 1, Chapter 3)

It is Truth which we must look for in Holy Writ, not cunning of words. All Scripture ought to be read in the spirit in which it was written. We must rather seek for what is profitable in Scripture, than for what ministereth to subtlety in discourse. Therefore we ought to read books which are devotional and simple, as well as those which are deep and difficult. And let not the weight of the writer be a stumbling-block to thee, whether he be of little or much learning, but let the love of the pure Truth draw thee to read. Ask not, who hath said this or that, but look to what he says. (Book 1, Chapter 5)

Our own curiosity often hindereth us in the reading of holy writings, when we seek to understand and discuss, where we should pass simply on. If thou wouldst profit by thy reading, read humbly, simply, honestly, and not desiring to win a character for learning. Ask freely, and hear in silence the words of holy men; nor be displeased at the hard sayings of older men than thou, for they are not uttered without cause. (Book 1, Chapter 5)

Be thou never without something to do; be reading, or writing, or praying, or meditating, or doing something that is useful to the community. (Book 1, Chapter 19)

Whereupon then can I hope, or wherein may I trust, save only in the great mercy of God, and the hope of heavenly grace? For whether good men are with me, godly brethren or faithful friends, whether holy books or beautiful discourses, whether sweet hymns and songs, all these help but little, and have but little savour when I am deserted by God's favour and left to mine own poverty. There is no better remedy, then, than patience and denial of self, and an abiding in the will of God. (Book 2, Chapter 9)

There are some who carry their devotion only in books, some in pictures, some in outward signs and figures; some have Me in their mouths, but little in their hearts. Others there are who, being enlightened in their understanding and purged in their affections, continually long after eternal things, hear of earthly things with unwillingness, obey the necessities of nature with sorrow. And these understand what the Spirit of truth speaketh in them; for He teacheth them to despise earthly things and to love heavenly; to neglect the world and to desire heaven all the day and night. (Book 3, Chapter 4)

Great is the difference between a godly man, illuminated with wisdom, and a scholar learned in knowledge and given to books. Far nobler is that doctrine which floweth down from the divine fulness above, than that which is acquired laboriously by human study. (Book 3, Chapter 31)

Never read thou the word that thou mayest appear more learned or wise; but study for the mortification of thy sins, for this will be far more profitable for thee than the knowledge of many difficult questions. (Book 3, Chapter 43)

The voice of books is one, but it informeth not all alike. (Book 3, Chapter 43)

In Thee, therefore, O Lord God, I put all my hope and my refuge, on Thee I lay all my tribulation and anguish; because I find all to be weak and unstable whatsoever I behold out of Thee. For many friends shall not profit, nor strong helpers be able to succour, nor prudent counsellors to give a useful answer, nor the books of the learned to console, nor any precious substance to deliver, nor any secret and beautiful place to give shelter, if Thou Thyself do not assist, help, strengthen, comfort, instruct, keep in safety. (Book 3, Chapter 59)

When I think on these wondrous things, even spiritual comfort whatsoever it be becometh sore weariness to me; for so long as I see not openly my Lord in His own Glory, I count for nothing all which I behold and hear in the world. Thou, O God, art my witness that nothing is able to comfort me, no creature is able to give me rest, save Thou, O my God, whom I desire to contemplate everlastingly. But this is not possible, so long as I remain in this mortal state. Therefore ought I to set myself unto great patience, and submit myself unto Thee in every desire. For even Thy Saints, O Lord, who now rejoice with Thee in the kingdom of heaven, waited for the coming of Thy glory whilst they lived here, in faith and great glory. What they believed, that believe I; what they hoped, I hope; whither they have attained to, thither through Thy grace hope I to come. I will walk meanwhile in faith, strengthened by the examples of the Saints. I will have also holy books for comfort and for a mirror of life, and above them all Thy most holy Body and Blood shall be for me a special remedy and refuge. (Book 4, Chapter 11)

The Business of God's Day

Joseph Hall, "the first man in England to publish letters in English" (Frank Livingstone Huntley, Bishop Joseph Hall and Protestant Meditation in Seventeenth-Century England, p. 17), wrote a memorable letter to Edward Denny in which he described how he spent his days at Waltham Abbey, England, which is where began his famous 22-year project which was published as Contemplations on the Historical Passages of the Old and New Testaments. This letter is very much a model of how I personally wish to live my days to the Lord. In it he describes how "every day is a little life" and how therefore he practically lived out this maxim written earlier in Three Centuries of Meditations and Vowes, Divine and Morall (1606):

Each day is a new life, and an abridgment of the whole. I will so live, as if I counted every day my first, and my last; as if I began to live but then, and should live no more afterwards.

At the conclusion of this letter, he gives a brief summation of how he aimed to spend each Christian Sabbath, which I commend to the edification of our souls on this Lord's Day.

Joseph Hall, Ep. 2 Dec. 6, Epistles, in Six Decades (1608, 1611), Works, Vol. 6, pp. 282-283:

Such are my common days. But God's day calls for another respect. The same sun arises on this day, and enlightens it; yet, because that Sun of Righteousness arose upon it, and gave a new life unto the world in it, and drew the strength of God's moral precept unto it, therefore justly do we sing with the Psalmist, This is the day which the Lord hath made. Now I forget the world, and in a sort myself; and deal with my wonted thoughts, as great men use, who, at some times of their privacy, forbid the access of all suitors. Prayer, meditation, reading, hearing, preaching, singing, good conference, are the business of this day; which I dare not bestow on any work or pleasure but heavenly. I hate superstition on the one side, and looseness on the other: but I find it hard to offend in too much devotion; easy, in profaneness. The whole week is sanctified by this day; and, according to my care of this, is my blessing on the rest.

I show your lordship what I would do, and what I ought: I commit my desires to the imitation of the weak; my actions to the censures of the wise and holy; my weaknesses, to the pardon and redress of my merciful God.

Willison's Recommended Sabbath Reading

John Willison (1680-1750), Church of Scotland minister, has the following reading advice for Christians in his "A Treatise Concerning the Sanctification of the Lord's Day" (links provided to works cited and biographical information about the authors where possible for the interested reader):

I am persuaded there is no better way in this world for improving the faculty of sight, and the benefits of light, than by reading the word of God. So far as time can allow you upon the Sabbath, I judge it  very profitable to read other good books also, such as our Confession of Faith, [Thomas] Vincent's Catechism [An Explanation of the Assembly's Shorter Catechism]., Vincent on the last Judgment [Of Christ's Certain and Sudden Appearance to Judgment], [William] Guthrie's Trial of a Saving Interest in Christ [The Christian's Great Interest], [Joseph] Alleine's Alarm [to the Unconverted], [Richard] Baxter's Call to the Unconverted, [Edward] Pearse's Preparation for Death, Fox's Time and the End of Time [by John Foxe], [Thomas] Doolittle's Call to Delaying Sinners, Baxter's Saints' Everlasting Rest, his Poor Man's Family Book, [Andrew] Gray's Sermons, [John] Flavel's Touchstone of Sincerity, his Saint Indeed, [Matthew] Mead's Almost Christian, the Treatises of Doolittle, Campbell and Henry upon the Sacrament [Thomas Doolittle, A Treatise on the Lord's Supper; Daniel Campbell, Sacramental Meditations on the Sufferings and Death of Christ; Matthew Henry, The Communicant's Companion], [Samuel] Rutherfoord's Letters, the Fulfilling of the Scriptures [by Robert Fleming, Sr.], Clark's Martyrology [Samuel Clarke's (1599-1683) General Martyrologie], [Thomas] Beard's Theatre of God's Judgments. These, and such like books, next to the Holy Bible, I recommend to the perusal of all private Christians, as being easy and plan to common capacities, and some of the most generally useful, instructing, awakening, soul-searching, and heart-warming pieces, that I have seen among human writings, and which have been blessed to the edification of many thousands.

Christ's Garden

Henry Scudder, The Christian's Daily Walk, p. 81:

...the best recreation to a spiritual mind, when it is weary of worldly employments, is to walk into Christ's garden; and there, by reading and meditating, singing of Psalms, and holy conference, you may solace yourself with the sweet comforts of the Holy Spirit, and enliven your heart with joy in God, even joy in the Holy Ghost; and a delight in the commandments and word of God. These are the most profitable, most ravishing, and most lasting delights of all others. And by how much the soul is of a more spiritual, heavenly constitution, by so much more it will content and satisfy itself in these delights.

Heaven-Sent

The letters of David Brainerd, like those of Samuel Rutherford or Joseph Alleine, savor so sweetly of heaven that they seem sent from Immanuel's Land. Though his time in this vale of tears was short, he was conscious of the preciousness of time, possessing as he did a view of eternity, and made the most of the time given to him in order to answer his chief end, that is, to glorify God. And that was the view of time which he bequeathed to others. This is the counsel of one who tasted eternal bliss while on his earthly pilgrimage, and now sends word to us from heavenly places to be heavenly-minded.

Letter (II) to John Brainerd (Dec. 27, 1743):

I find nothing more conducive to a life of Christianity than a diligent, industrious, and faithful improvement of precious time.

Letter (III) to Israel Brainerd (Jan. 21, 1743/4):

Again, Be careful to make a good improvement of precious time. When you cease from labour, fill up your time in reading, meditation, and prayer: and while your hands are labouring, let your heart be employed, as much as possible, in divine thoughts.

Letter (IV) to a Special Friend (July 31, 1744):

Verily, no hours pass away with so much divine pleasure, as those that are spent in communing with God and our own hearts.

Letter (VI) to John Brainerd (Dec. 25, 1745):

My brother, "the time is short." Oh let us fill it up for God; let us "count the sufferings of this present time" as nothing, if we can but run our race, and finish our course with joy." Let us strive to live to God....I think I do not desire to live one minute for any thing that earth can afford. Oh that I could live for none but God, till my dying moment!

Letter (VII) to Israel Brainerd (Nov. 24, 1746):

Let me intreat you to keep eternity in view, and behave yourself as becomes one that must shortly "give an account of all things done in the body."

Letter (VIII) to Israel Brainerd (June 30, 1747):

It is from the sides of eternity I now address you....But let me tell you, my brother, eternity is another thing than we ordinarily take it to be in a healthful state. Oh how vast and boundless; how fixed and unalterable! Of what infinite importance is it, that we be prepared for eternity!

Letter (IX) to a Young Gentleman, a Candidate for the Ministry (Summer 1747):

How amazing it is that "the living who know that they must die," should notwithstanding put far away the evil day, in a season of health and prosperity; and live at such an awful distance from a familiarity with the grave, and the great concerns beyond it. Especially it may just fill us with surprise, that any whose minds have been divinely enlightened, to behold the important things of eternity as they are, I say, that such should live in this manner. And yet, Sir, how frequently is this the case. How rare are the instances of those who live and act, from day to day, as on the verge of eternity; striving to fill up all their remaining moments in the service and to the honour of the great Master. We insensibly triffle away time, while we seem to have enough of it; and are so strangely amused as in great measure to lose a sense of the holiness and blessed qualifications necessary to prepare us to be inhabitants of paradise. But oh, dear Sir, a dying bed, if we enjoy our reason clearly, will give another view of things.

Reading and Blogging Through the Marrow in 2011

Join Christopher Chelpka and friends as they blog their way through The Marrow of Modern Divinity by Edward Fisher in 2011 at The Marrow Project. Read along with them using their 52-week reading plan, available here. This is a true Christian classic, and it is hoped that you will be blessed in your studies as I have.

Books for People of the Book

For some time I have been preparing a list of worthwhile books for the Christian reader. This project was born out of a desire to create a guide to reading the best, most profitable and useful literature, arranged topically, for those interested in Reformed theology and the liberal arts. It is my answer to the question, "Which books do you think the ordinary educated Christian reader would do well to know?" It is admittedly subjective, yet it is the result of not only my own experience in filtering out the wheat from the tares, but also the product of much consultation. It is also long, at this time 36 pages total, the first seven of which comprise the introduction. The introduction will refer the reader to the resources upon which my list was drawn, as well as other hopefully useful points of consideration. This list is intended as both an incentive and a guide to further reading, not a "must read" curriculum. To quote Richard Baxter, "It is not the reading of many books to make a man wise or good, but the well-reading of a few, could he be sure to have the best." These, therefore, represent a list of those "best" or "choice" books, which in the humble opinion of this fellow reader and writer would most serve towards that end. I have included some titles by writers antithetical to the Christian faith, with the proviso that it is good to "know thy enemy" and to be able to respond suitably to such challenges. But primarily, the criteria by which each book was included was simply whether it will profit the Christian reader to know this book. The younger reader, it is hoped, will benefit especially from this guide or list by being exposed to older works that he or she might not otherwise come to know. I hope it will be a blessing to all who read, and encourage you, the reader, to further tolle lege, that is, "take up and read." Without further ado, here is the list.

Of Ivory Towers and Fresh Air

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: (Eccl. 3.1)

Samuel Davies, Letter to William Holt (his brother-in-law in Williamsburg, Va.):

I am as happy as perhaps creation can make me. I have a peaceful study, the venerable dead are waiting in my library to entertain me. I very much question if there is a more calm, placid, and contented mortal in Virginia.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Introduction to Kubla Khan:

On awakening [from his dream, the author] appeared to himself to have a distinct recollection of the whole, and taking his pen, ink, and paper, instantly and eagerly wrote down the lines that are here preserved. At this moment he was unfortunately called out by a person on business from Porlock, and detained by him above an hour, and on his return to his room, found, to his no small surprise and mortification, that though he still retained some vague and dim recollection of the general purport of the vision, yet, with the exception of some eight or ten scattered lines and images, all the rest had passed away like the images on the surface of a stream into which a stone has been cast, but, alas! without the after restoration of the latter!

James W. Alexander, Journal:

§ 12. Against Solitude.—A life of study has always appeared to me an unnatural life. Is it not better to converse with the living than the dead? Some one will yet have to write a book on the excess of literature. The ancient Greek way of studying abroad, in the Porch, or the Academy, on the Bissus and under the platanus, among the haunts of man, was better for the health both of body and mind. Recluse habits tend to sadness, moroseness, selfishness, timidity, and inaction. The mind has better play in aprico. Collision produces scintillation of genius, and proximity of friends opens a gush for the affections. The early Christians seem to have been out-of-door people, rehearsing to one another the wisdom which had been given to them orally. Lessons which go from mouth to mouth, take a portable shape, because dense, pithy, and apothegmatic: such are the proverbs of all ages. We are made for action, and life is too short for us to be always preparing. A breath of pure air seems to oxygenate the intellect, and the best thoughts of the scholar are sometimes during the half hour of twilight, when he has laid aside his books, and taken his walking-stick. Then he is more of a man, feels his fellowship not only with nature, but with his kind. I sometimes wish I had been less a reader of books; that I had exercised my prerogative over the beasts of the field, mastered horses, or traversed countries as a reckless pedestrian. Ever turning the thoughts inward produces corrosion. We should have something, it is true, within, but it should tend outwards. He has not fulfilled his vocation, who has spent his score of years in solitary delight over ancient authors, and eaten his morsel alone. Gray, with all Greece in his mind, pacing up and down the green alleys of a college walk, was but half the man he should have been. Horace Walpole, revelling in the virtu of Strawberry Hill, degenerated into a mere toyman, and filled the most elegant letters extant with the matching of old chairs and Sevres china. It is to let the mind run to seed in a corner; transplantation is necessary. To live for others is the dictate of religion. And what to do for others is best done by actual approaches, face to face, eye looking into eye, and hand pressing hand. It is not enough to say, this or that recondite pursuit may turn to somebody's advantage. So it may, if you live to be a Methuselah or a Lamech. But your ever-increasing stock should not be all hoarded. The sum is, go forth among mankind. Lay aside the cowl, and make one of the great company. Every day renew the electric touch with the common mind. Fall into the circle, to give and take good influences. It is not too late if your heart is not ossified to the core. I hope it is not so bad as that in Tully's phrase, locus ubi stomachus fuit, concaluit. It is worth an effort. The air of a saloon or a market-place will do you good, and you will gain something from brushing the crowd in a thoroughfare.

§ 22. Books and Solitude.—Much may be learned without books. To read always is not the way to be wise. The knowledge of those who are not bookworms has a certain air of health and robustness. I never deal with books all day without being the worse for it. Living teachers are better than dead. There is magic in the voice of living wisdom. Iron sharpeneth iron. Part of every day should be spent in society. Learning is discipline; but the heart must be disciplined as well as the head; and only by intercourse with our fellows can the affections be disciplined. Bookishness implies solitude; and solitude is apt to produce ill weeds: melancholy, selfishness, moroseness, suspicion, and fear. To go abroad is, therefore, a Christian duty. I never went from my books to spend an hour with a friend, however humble, without receiving benefit. I never left the solitary contemplation of a subject in order to compare notes on it with a friend, without finding my ideas clarified. Ennui is not common where men properly mingle the contemplative with the active life. The natural and proper time for going abroad is the evening. Such intercourse should be encouraged in one's own house as well as out of it. Solitary study breeds inhospitality: we do not like to be interrupted. Every one, however wearisome as a guest, should be made welcome, and entertained cordially. Women surpass men in the performance of these household duties; chiefly because they are all given to habits of solitary study. The life which Christ lived among men is a pattern of what intercourse should be for the good of society. I have a notion that the multiplication of books in our day, which threatens to overleap all bounds, will, in the first instance, produce great evils, and will afterwards lead men back to look on oral communication as a method of diffusing knowledge which the press has unduly superseded; and that this will some day break on the world with the freshness of a new discovery.

Give Thyself Unto Reading

Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. (1 Tim. 4.13)

The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments. (2 Tim. 4.13)

Richard Baxter, A Christian Directory, pp. 56-57:

Make careful choice of the books which you read. Let the Holy Scriptures ever have the pre-eminence; and next them, the solid, lively, heavenly treatises, which best expound and apply the Scriptures; and next those, the credible histories, especially of the church, and tractates upon inferior sciences and arts; but take heed of the poison of the writings of false teachers, which would corrupt your understandings; and of vain romances, play-books, and false stories, which may bewitch your fantasies, and corrupt your hearts.
...
The writings of divines are nothing else but a preaching the gospel to the eye, as the voice preacheth it to the ear. Vocal preaching hath the pre-eminence in moving the affections, and being diversified according to the state of the congregations which attend it: this way the milk cometh warmest from the breast. But books have the advantage in many other respects: you may read an able preacher, when you have but a mean one to hear. Every congregation cannot heart the most judicious or powerful preachers; but every single person may read the books of the most powerful and judicious. Preachers may be silenced or banished, when books may be at hand: books may be kept at a smaller charge than preachers: we may choose books which treat of that very subject which we desire to hear of; but we cannot choose what subject the preacher shall treat of. Books we may have at hand every day and hour; when we can have sermons but seldom, and at set times. If sermons be forgotten, they are gone. But a book we may read over and over till we remember it; and if we forget it, may again peruse it at our pleasure, or at our leisure. So that good books are a very great mercy to the world.

Charles Spurgeon, "Paul -- His Cloak and His Books," Sermon 542 in MTP 9 (1863):

Even an apostle must read. Some of our very ultra Calvinistic brethren think that a minister who reads books and studies his sermon must be a very deplorable specimen of a preacher. A man who comes up into the pulpit, professes to take his text on the spot, and talks any quantity of nonsense, is the idol of many. If he will speak without premeditation, or pretend to do so, and never produce what they call a dish of dead men's brains—oh! that is the preacher. How rebuked are they by the apostle! He is inspired, and yet he wants books! He has been preaching at least for thirty years, and yet he wants books! He had seen the Lord, and yet he wants books! He had had a wider experience than most men, and yet he wants books! He had been caught up into the third heaven, and had heard things which it was unlawful for a men to utter, yet he wants books! He had written the major part of the New Testament, and yet he wants books! The apostle says to Timothy and so he says to every preacher, "Give thyself unto reading." The man who never reads will never be read; he who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains, proves that he has no brains of his own. Brethren, what is true of ministers is true of all our people. You need to read. Renounce as much as you will all light literature, but study as much as possible sound theological works, especially the Puritanic writers, and expositions of the Bible. We are quite persuaded that the very best way for you to be spending your leisure, is to be either reading or praying. You may get much instruction from books which afterwards you may use as a true weapon in your Lord and Master's service. Paul cries, "Bring the books"—join in the cry.

A Covenanter's Study

"Life of the Author" in James Durham, The Dying Man's Testament to the Church of Scotland: or, A Treatise Concerning Scandal (1740), p. xviii:

[James Durham] gave himself much to reading, for which Cause and that he might be free of all Disturbance of the Family, &c. he caused build a Study for himself on the Head of the Stair of his House in the Country, which yet remains standing, tho' all the rest of that great House be pulled down. In this little Chamber he gave himself continually to Prayer, Reading and Meditation, and was so close a Student there, that he oft forgot to eat his Bread; and was sometimes so intent on his Studies, that Servants who were sent to call him down, have often returned without Answer, yea, his Lady was frequently obliged to call on him with Tears to open and come down, before he would come; such sweet Communion he had with the Lord in that Place at sometimes.

The Book of Books

Henry Scudder, The Christian's Daily Walk, pp. 142-143:

When you read any part of the word of God, you must put a difference between it and the best writings of men, preferring it far before them. To this end, (1.) Consider it in its properties and excellencies. No word is of like absolute authority, holiness, truth, wisdom, power, and eternity. (2.) Consider this word in its ends and good effects. No book aimeth at God's glory, and the salvation of man's soul, like this; none concerneth you like to this. It discovereth your misery by sin, together with the perfect remedy. It proposeth perfect happiness unto you, affording means to work it out in you, and for you. It is mighty, through God, to prepare you for grace. It is the immortal seed to beget you unto Christ. It is the milk and stronger meat to nourish you up in Christ. It is the only soul physic, (through Christ Jesus) to recover you, and to free you of all spiritual evils. By it Christ giveth spiritual sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the dumb, strength to the weak, health to the sick, yea, by it he doth cast out devils, and raise men from the death of sin, through faith, as certainly as he did all those tilings for the bodies of men by the word of his power, while he lived on the earth. This book of God doth contain those many rich legacies, bequeathed to you in that last will and testament of God, sealed with the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. It is the magna charta, and statute-book of the kingdom of heaven. It is the book of privileges and immunities of God's children. It is the word of grace, "which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance amongst all them that are sanctified." For, it will make you wise to salvation, through faith in Christ Jesus, making you perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

Reading Without Regret

I commend for your reading pleasure a recent blog post by Charlie Johnson about his reading plans this year and guiding principles called Reading Without Regret.

Puritan Sweet Tooth

Cotton Mather, speaking of his grandfather, John Cotton, wrote of his practice to read John Calvin before bedtime (Magnalia Christi Americana I:250):

Even such a Calvinist was our Cotton! Said he, I have read the fathers and the school-men, and Calvin too; but I find, that he that has Calvin has them all. And being asked, why in his latter days he indulged nocturnal studies more than formerly, he pleasantly replied, Because I love to sweeten my mouth with a piece of Calvin before I go to sleep.

Tolle Lege

Samuel Davies, Letter to his brother-in-law:

I have a peaceful study, as a refuge from the hurries and noise of the world around me; the venerable dead are waiting in my library to entertain me, and relieve me from the nonsense of surviving mortals.

Here is counsel on the value of good reading, a sadly-neglected art in our modern sound-bite age, and encouragement to tolle lege, take up and read!

Thomas Watson, Farewell Sermons of Some of the Most Eminent of the Nonconformist Ministers, pp. 196-197:

First, I beseech you, keep your constant hours every day with God. The godly man is a man set apart, Ps. iii. not only because God hath set him apart by election, but because he hath set himself apart by devotion. Give God the Aurorae filiam. Begin the day with God, visit God in the morning before you make any other visit; wind up your hearts towards heaven in the morning, and they will go better all the day after! Oh turn your closets into temples; read the scriptures. The two Testaments are the two lips by which God speaks to us; these will make you wise unto salvation: the scripture is both a glass to shew you your spots, and a laver to wash them away; besiege heaven every day with your prayer, thus perfume your houses, and keep a constant intercourse with heaven.

Secondly, Get books into your houses, when you have not the spring near to you, then get water into your cisterns: so when you have not that wholesome preaching that you desire, good books are cisterns that hold the water of life in them to refresh you. When David's natural heat was taken away, they covered him with warm clothes, 1 Kings i. So when you find a chillness upon your souls, and that your former heat begins to abate, ply yourselves with warm clothes, get those good books that may acquaint you with such truths as may warm and affect your hearts.

Charles Spurgeon, Sermon No. 542: Paul -- His Cloak and His Books:

Even an apostle must read. Some of our very ultra Calvinistic brethren think that a minister who reads books and studies his sermon must be a very deplorable specimen of a preacher. A man who comes up into the pulpit, professes to take his text on the spot, and talks any quantity of nonsense, is the idol of many. If he will speak without premeditation, or pretend to do so, and never produce what they call a dish of dead men's brains—oh! that is the preacher. How rebuked are they by the apostle! He is inspired, and yet he wants books! He has been preaching at least for thirty years, and yet he wants books! He had seen the Lord, and yet he wants books! He had had a wider experience than most men, and yet he wants books! He had been caught up into the third heaven, and had heard things which it was unlawful for a men to utter, yet he wants books! He had written the major part of the New Testament, and yet he wants books! The apostle says to Timothy and so he says to every preacher, "Give thyself unto reading." The man who never reads will never be read; he who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains, proves that he has no brains of his own. Brethren, what is true of ministers is true of all our people. You need to read. Renounce as much as you will all light literature, but study as much as possible sound theological works, especially the Puritanic writers, and expositions of the Bible. We are quite persuaded that the very best way for you to be spending your leisure, is to be either reading or praying. You may get much instruction from books which afterwards you may use as a true weapon in your Lord and Master's service. Paul cries, "Bring the books"—join in the cry.

Matthew Poole, The Last Sayings of Matthew Poole:

Ministers are living Books, and Books are dead Ministers; and yet though dead, they speak. When you cannot heare the one, you may read the other.

Richard Baxter, A Christian Directory, pp. 56-57:

Direct. xvi. ' Make careful choice of the books which you read. Let the Holy Scriptures ever have the pre-eminence, and next them, the solid, lively, heavenly treatises, which best expound and apply the Scriptures; and next those, the credible histories, especially of the church, and tractates upon inferior sciences and arts: but take heed of the poison of the writings of false teachers, which would corrupt your understandings: and of vain romances, play-books, and false stories, which may bewitch your fantasies, and corrupt your hearts.'

As there is a more excellent appearance of the Spirit of God in the Holy Scriptures, than in any other book whatever, so it hath more power and fitness to convey the Spirit, and make us spiritual, by imprinting itself upon our hearts. As there is more of God in it, so it will acquaint us more with God, and bring us nearer him, and make the reader more reverent, serious, and divine. Let Scripture be first and most in your hearts and hands, and other books be used as subservient to it. The endeavours of the devil and Papists to keep it from you, doth shew that it is most necessary and desirable to you. And when they tell you, that all heretics plead the Scripture, they do but tell you, that it is the common rule or law of Christians, which, therefore, all are fain to pretend: as all lawyers and wranglers plead the laws of the land, be their cause never so bad, and yet the laws must not be therefore concealed or cast aside: and they do but tell you, that, in their concealment or dishonouring the Scriptures, they are worse than any of those heretics. When they tell you, that the Scriptures are misunderstood, and abused, and perverted to maintain men's errors, they might also desire that the sun might be obscured, because the purblind do mistake, and murderers and robbers do wickedly by its light: and that the earth might be subverted, because it bears all evil doers : and highways stopt up, because men travel in them to do evil: and food prohibited, because it nourisheth men's diseases. And when they have told you truly of a law or rule (whether made by pope or council), which bad men cannot misunderstand or break, or abuse and misapply, then hearken to them, and prefer that law, as that which preventeth the need of any judgment.

The writings of Divines are nothing else but a preaching the Gospel to the eye, as the voice preacheth it to the ear. Vocal preaching hath the pre-eminence in moving the affections, and being diversified according to the state of the congregations which attend it: this way the milk cometh warmest from the breast. But books have the advantage in many other respects: you may read an able preacher, when you have but a mean one to hear. Every congregation cannot hear the most judicious or powerful preachers; but every single person may read the books of the most powerful and judicious. Preachers may be silenced or banished, when books may be at hand: books may be kept at a smaller charge than preachers: we may choose books which treat of that very subject which we desire to hear of; but we cannot choose what subject the preacher shall (rent of. Books we may have at hand every day and hour; when we can have sermons but seldom, and at set times. If sermons be forgotten, they are gone. But a book we may read over and over until we remember it; and, if we forget it, may again peruse it at our pleasure, or at our leisure. So that good books are a very great mercy to the world. The Holy Ghost chose the way of writing, to preserve his doctrine and laws to the church, as knowing how easy and sure a way it is of keeping it safe to all generations, in comparison of mere verbal tradition, which might have made as many controversies about the very terms, as theie be memories or persons to be the preservers and reporters,

Books are (if well chosen) domestic, present, constant, judicious, pertinent, yea, and powerful sermons: and always of very great use to your salvation: but especially when vocal preaching faileth, and preachers are ignorant, ungodly, or dull, or when they are persecuted, and forbid to preach.

You have need of a judicious teacher at hand, to direct you what books to use or to refuse. For among good books there wre some very good that are sound and lively: and some are good, but mean, aad weak, and somewhat dull: and some are very good in part, bat have mixtures of error, or else of incautious, injudicious expressions, fitter to puzzle than edify the weak. I am loath to name any of these latter sorts (of which abundance have come forth of late): but to the young beginner in religion, I may be bold to recommend (next to a sound catechism) Mr. Rutherford's Letters; —Mr. Robert Bolton's Works ;—Mr. Perkins's;—Mr. Whateley's ;—Mr. Ball, of Faith;—Dr. Preston's;—Dr. Sibbs's ;—Mr. Hildersham's :—Mr. Pink's Sermons ;— Mr. Jos. Rogers's;—Mr. Rich. Allen's;—Mr. GurnalPs; —Mr. Swinnock's;—Mr. Jos. Simonds's. And to establish you against Popery, Dr. Challoner's Codex Credo Eccles. Cathol.;—Dr. Field, of the Church ;—Dr. White's Way to the Church, with the Defence;—Bishop Usher's Answer to the Jesuit; and Chillingworth, with Drelincourt's Summary. And for right principles about Redemption, &c. Mr. Truman's Great Propitiation; and of Natural and Moral Impotency;—and Mr. William Fenner, of Wilful Impenitency;—Mr. Hotchkis, of Forgiveness of Sin. To pass by many other excellent ones, that I may not name too many.

To a very judicious, able reader, who is fit to censure all he reads, there is no great danger in reading the books of any seducers : it doth but shew him how little and thin a cloak is used to cover a bad cause. But, alas! young soldiers, not used to such wars, are startled at a very sophism, or at a terrible threatening of damnation to dissenters (which every censorious sect can use), or at every confident, triumphant boast, or at every thing that hath a fair pretence of truth or godliness. Injudicious persons can answer almost no deceiver which they hear: and when they cannot answer them they think they must yield, as if the fault were not in them but in the cause, and as if Christ had no wiser followers, or better defenders of his truth than they. Meddle not, therefore, with poison, till you better know how to use it, and may do it with less danger, as long as you have no need.

As for play-books, and romances, and idle tales, I have already shewed in my "Book of Self-Denial," how pernicious they are, especially to youth, and to frothy, empty, idle wits, that know not what a man is, nor what he hath to do in the world. They are powerful baits of the devil, to keep more necessary things out of their minds, and better books out of their hands, and to poison the mind so much the more dangerously, as they are read with more delight and pleasure: and to fill the minds of sensual people with such idle fumes, and intoxicating fancies, as may divert them from the serious thoughts of their salvation: and (which is no small loss) to rob them of abundance of that precious time, which was given them for more important business; and which they will wish and wish again at last that they had spent more wisely. I know the fantastics will say, that these things are innocent, and may teach men much good (like him that must go to a whore-house to learn to hate uncleanness; and him that would go out with robbers to learn to hate thievery): but I shall now only ask them as in the presence of God, 1. Whether they should spend that time no better ? 2. Whether better books and practices would not edify them more. 3. Whether the greatest lovers of romances and plays be the greatest lovers of the book of God, and of a holy life? 4. Whether they feel in themselves that the love of these vanities, doth increase their love to the Word of God, and kill their sin, and prepare them for the life to come? or clean contrary? And I would desire men not to prate against their own experience and reason, nor to dispute themselves into damnable impe- nitency, nor to befool their souls by a few silly words, which any but a sensualist may perceive to be mere deceit and falsehood. If this will not serve, they shall be shortly convinced and answered in another manner.

C.S. Lewis, Introduction to Athanasius' On The Incarnation:

There is a strange idea abroad that in every subject the ancient books should be read only by the professionals, and that the amateur should content himself with the modern books. Thus I have found as a tutor in English Literature that if the average student wants to find out something about Platonism, the very last thing he thinks of doing is to take a translation of Plato off the library shelf and read the Symposium. He would rather read some dreary modern book ten times as long, all about "isms" and influences and only once in twelve pages telling him what Plato actually said. The error is rather an amiable one, for it springs from humility. The student is half afraid to meet one of the great philosophers face to face. He feels himself inadequate and thinks he will not understand him. But if he only knew, the great man, just because of his greatness, is much more intelligible than his modern commentator. The simplest student will be able to understand, if not all, yet a very great deal of what Plato said; but hardly anyone can understand some modern books on Platonism. It has always therefore been one of my main endeavours as a teacher to persuade the young that firsthand knowledge is not only more worth acquiring than secondhand knowledge, but is usually much easier and more delightful to acquire.

This mistaken preference for the modern books and this shyness of the old ones is nowhere more rampant than in theology. Wherever you find a little study circle of Christian laity you can be almost certain that they are studying not St. Luke or St. Paul or St. Augustine or Thomas Aquinas or Hooker or Butler, but M. Berdyaev or M. Maritain or M. Niebuhr or Miss Sayers or even myself.

Now this seems to me topsy-turvy. Naturally, since I myself am a writer, I do not wish the ordinary reader to read no modern books. But if he must read only the new or only the old, I would advise him to read the old. And I would give him this advice precisely because he is an amateur and therefore much less protected than the expert against the dangers of an exclusive contemporary diet. A new book is still on its trial and the amateur is not in a position to judge it. It has to be tested against the great body of Christian thought down the ages, and all its hidden implications (often unsuspected by the author himself) have to be brought to light. Often it cannot be fully understood without the knowledge of a good many other modern books. If you join at eleven o'clock a conversation which began at eight you will often not see the real bearing of what is said. Remarks which seem to you very ordinary will produce laughter or irritation and you will not see why - the reason, of course, being that the earlier stages of the conversation have given them a special point. In the same way sentences in a modern book which look quite ordinary may be directed at some other book; in this way you may be led to accept what you would have indignantly rejected if you knew its real significance. The only safety is to have a standard of plain, central Christianity ("mere Christianity" as Baxter called it) which puts the controversies of the moment in their proper perspective. Such a standard can be acquired only from the old books. It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones.

Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books. All contemporary writers share to some extent the contemporary outlook - even those, like myself, who seem most opposed to it. Nothing strikes me more when I read the controversies of past ages than the fact that both sides were usually assuming without question a good deal which we should now absolutely deny. They thought that they were as completely opposed as two sides could be, but in fact they were all the time secretly united - united with each other and against earlier and later ages - by a great mass of common assumptions. We may be sure that the characteristic blindness of the twentieth century - the blindness about which posterity will ask, "But how could they have thought that?" - lies where we have never suspected it, and concerns something about which there is untroubled agreement between Hitler and President Roosevelt or between Mr. H. G. Wells and Karl Barth. None of us can fully escape this blindness, but we shall certainly increase it, and weaken our guard against it, if we read only modern books. Where they are true they will give us truths which we half knew already. Where they are false they will aggravate the error with which we are already dangerously ill. The only palliative is to keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds, and this can be done only by reading old books. Not, of course, that there is any magic about the past. People were no cleverer then than they are now; they made as many mistakes as we. But not the same mistakes. They will not flatter us in the errors we are already committing; and their own errors, being now open and palpable, will not endanger us. Two heads are better than one, not because either is infallible, but because they are unlikely to go wrong in the same direction. To be sure, the books of the future would be just as good a corrective as the books of the past, but unfortunately we cannot get at them.

Prayer, Meditation, and Temptation

William Cunningham, Theological Lectures, pp. 59-62:

Luther was accustomed to say that there were three things that were necessary to make a theologian, viz., prayer, meditation, and temptation or experience. Under the head of meditation, he, of course, comprehended reading, to which the apostle enjoined Timothy to give attendance; but by including it under the head of meditation, he showed very emphatically the strength of his conviction, that it was not the mere perusal of books that was in itself of any very great value, unless men’s faculties were really brought to bear upon the subjects of the books read. There must be reading, much reading; but this reading must not be the mere devouring of books. It must be accompanied with such a careful weighing and digesting of what is read, that it should rather be called meditation than reading.
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The necessity of combining reading and meditation, or reflection, is thus happily expressed by a celebrated writer, Gerhard John Vossius [1577-1649], the father of the equally celebrated Isaac Voss [1618-1689]: - "[English translation of the Latin remarks given here:] Reading and meditation ought to be very closely and intimately combined; for even reading does not penetrate into the mind, there being a necessity for attention while reading, and for meditation after it, that we may perceive the reasons and grounds of the particular statements made, and be able to apply what we read to other things of a similar kind. Without this what is read is not understood, and the small portion that may be comprehended will produce no fruit, because it has no root. It will also soon be forgotten, just as we see that what is not fixed deep in the earth is generally carried away by the wind. So that it is not be wondered at that men of extensive and multifarious reading are sometimes possessed of little or no judgment. The reason is, that they merely load their memories, and do not sharpen their judgment by exercising it. But as many 'helluones librorum' err on one side, devouring much and digesting nothing, so they err in an opposite extreme who, despising the labours of others, spend their time wholly in meditation, and because they are ignorant of what others have written, though much more true and excellent than anything they could have written, though much more true and excellent than anything they could produce, they often embrace their won dreams and fancies for oracles." - Gerhard Vossius, quoted in [Johann Buddeus' Isagoge historica-theologica ad theologiam universam 1727], p. 89.)

Reflect On What You Read

Edward Bickersteth, The Christian Student: Designed to Assist Christians in General in Acquiring Religious Knowledge, With a List of Books Suitable for a Minister's Library, pp. 172-173:

7. REFLECT ON WHAT YOU READ. Meditation and reflection are the better half of study. It is the more difficult, but the more profitable. We like the luxury of letting new thoughts enter our minds, without the trouble of weighing their truth and value. Like the Athenians, we are desiring new things rather than the truth. But the way to make thoughts our own, and to attain solid knowledge, and new and original ideas; to compare it with similar things; and thus both ascertain its real value, and profitably apply it to use. -- 'It is not so important,' says Mrs. More, 'to know every thing, as to know the exact value of every thing, to appreciate what we learn, and to arrange what we know.' Miss Bowdler, with great justice observes, 'The best book or the most instructive conversation will afford little pleasure or advantage, by being merely remembered, in comparison with what it might afford, by exciting new reflections in the mind, which lead to a new train of thought, and make the riches of others become in sort sort its own.'

Students who are always reading without intermission, and seldom weighing or deliberating, make but little progress in true wisdom. Study and reading, as Locke has observed, are distinct things. A man of great reading is not therefore a man of great knowledge. But patient reflection, and unbroken attention have been the great secrets of acquiring the profound knowledge which distinguished such men as Bacon and Newton. Luther thus expresses his views of the best way to make a Christian divine. 'Three things make a Divine; meditation, prayer, and temptation: and three things must be done by the minister of the word -- search the Bible, pray seriously, and always remain a learner.'