Sermons of Rutherford, Gillespie, Baillie and Henderson

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As is my wont, giving PB a slight advance heads up on this 9-1 notice.

Prepublication sale (for $19.95): Sermons of Rutherford, Gillespie, Baillie and Henderson | Naphtali Press {Pre publication sale over; see post below}
Alexander Henderson, Robert Baillie, George Gillespie, Samuel Rutherford. Sermons Preached before the English Houses of Parliament
by the Scottish Commissioners to the Westminster Assembly of Divines, 16431645. Introduction by Guy M. Richard. Edited by Chris Coldwell. October, 2011. 592 pages. $54.50; Pre-publication price through September 30, 2011: $19.95 (plus $4 postage, USA only; contact us if outside the USA for pricing). Hard bound, Smyth sewn, dust jacket, color frontispiece. Portraits by Mike Mahon. Author, Subject and Scripture indices. Bibliography includes collation of works/resources available to the divines at the Westminster Abbey, Sion College and Lambeth Palace libraries during the time of the assembly.

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We have gone to press with an edition of the sermons preached by Alexander Henderson, Robert Baillie, George Gillespie and Samuel Rutherford, while commissioners at the Westminster Assembly of Divines, 1643-1645. These nine sermons previously were published serially as a set in the first volume (four issues) of the Anthology of Presbyterian & Reformed Literature (1988), the first publication endeavor of Naphtali Press. That earlier edition was very much a freshman effort in working with seventeenth century texts, and as such was marred by mistakes and the nature of working to deadline for a serial publication. The text presented in this new volume has been significantly revised and improved, and proofed anew against the originals and many corrections made. Most notably, missing words or phrases inadvertently dropped in the first transcription were corrected. Through considerable research, the notes have also been extensively expanded, providing bibliographic details of referenced works, and attempting to trace all the literary, classical and patristic allusions. The Bibliography notes the works referenced in these sermons which may have been found in the Westminster Abbey, Sion College and Lambeth Palace libraries at the time of the Assembly (more extensive research on the divines’ literary resources is presented in Coldwell, “Westminster Abbey Library: The Theological Resource of the Assembly of Divines (1643–1652),” The Confessional Presbyterian 6 [2010] 263–282).

This volume of sermons has received the following kind commendations:

Commendations from William S. Barker, Chad B. Van Dixhoorn, John R. de Witt and Joel R. Beeke.

N
ot long after the Solemn League and Covenant between England and Scotland was achieved in September of 1643, the four Scottish ministerial commissioners to the Westminster Assembly, Alexander Henderson, Samuel Rutherford, Robert Baillie, and George Gillespie, were offered the opportunity to preach before the House of Commons on the monthly fast day (the last Wednesday of the month) from December 27 to March 27, 1644. Then they preached before the House of Lords in the same cycle from May 28 to August 27, 1645. In between, Henderson preached the thanksgiving day sermon before both Houses on July 28, 1644, shortly after the July 2 victory of the Parliamentary army at Marston Moor. This book provides a carefully edited version of these nine sermons, preached by influential formers of the Presbyterian heritage at a crucial juncture of history.

Read chronologically (they are appropriately organized in groups by the respective preachers/authors), they give a sense of the promising but often frustrating progress of this second reformation of church and state in the three kingdoms of the British Isles. One hears the veteran leader Alexander Henderson speaking truth to power with tremendous command of Scripture. There is Samuel Rutherford’s unusual and colorful turning of phrase, blending the sweetness of his Letters with the scholastic depth of his Lex Rex. There is the urgency of Robert Baillie, frustrated with Parliament’s slow progress in adopting presbyterian government in order to achieve church discipline of errors and hardness of heart. And then there is the earnestness of the young George Gillespie, pleading for humble repentance and also humbly acknowledging his own difficulty in interpreting the prophecy of Ezekiel, and yet applying it aptly to his contemporary situation. Of special interest is that the texts for six of these nine sermons come from the prophets and the period of the Babylonian exile and return. The sermons were preached, and no doubt heard and acted upon, with the sense that God is giving a chance to start anew. Although our circumstances today may be different in many ways, these sermons can give us inspiration for renewal in our time.”
William S. Barker, Author of Puritan Profiles and Editor (with Samuel T. Logan, Jr.) of Sermons That Shaped America.
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The Scottish Commissioners to the Westminster Assembly were not only valued by the synod’s members, but also by the public at large. In this elegant edition of their fast sermons, we have access once more to their carefully framed addresses to the English parliament, a body which maintained a complicated and sometimes fraught relationship with the Scottish kirk throughout the English Civil Wars. Scholars will welcome Chris Coldwell’s bibliography of texts cited in these sermons. A general readership will be pleased with the modernized spelling and punctuation of the text. Naphtali Press is to be commended for its continued publication of rare seventeenth-century theological texts.
Dr. Chad B. Van Dixhoorn, Westminster Assembly Project.
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In a profound sense of the word these sermons by the Scottish Commissioners to the Westminster Assembly are beyond praise. They were preached by mighty men of God who stood head and shoulders above most others in their own or any generation. Their piety, knowledge of the Bible, learning, and gifts for leadership could not be questioned. An outstanding characteristic of these astonishing sermons included in this volume is just the degree to which the men who delivered them were prepared to speak the truth to powerful politicians and statesmen. They did so with dignity and appropriate respect, but their primary concern was that they remain faithful to the Lord God who had called them to be his spokesmen. The period in which they flourished must be reckoned as among the most important in religious and political history. Great issues hung in the balance. The Westminster Assembly had been summoned by Parliament and was therefore in the first instance answerable to it. A great struggle was taking place, both on the field of battle and in the effort to establish a truly Reformed church in England. During the Assembly’s protracted debates and from the pulpits of St. Margaret’s Church and Westminster Abbey, these commissioners bore unexampled witness to the truth of the Word of God. No doubt one should observe as well that the degree to which the House of Commons and the House of Lords were prepared to hear such preaching underscores the seriousness with which those on the political side took their own responsibilities. Chris Coldwell and Naphthali Press have presented us with a substantial gift in the publication of this volume.
Dr. John R. de Witt, Professor of Church History and Systematic Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, Mississippi (1975–1982), and author of Jus Divinum: The Westminster Assembly and the Divine Right of Church Government (1969).
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The Scottish Commissioners to the Westminster Assembly shone like a constellation of stars in the darkness of the world. They were profound theologians, brilliant debaters, bold preachers, and prayerful Christians, deeply valued by their colleagues and laypeople alike. This collection of sermons by Baillie, Gillespie, Henderson, and Rutherford—conservatively modernized with contemporary spelling and punctuation—addresses a range of topics from the kingdom of Christ to the kingdoms of men. It will be a blessing to students of historical theology, friends of Presbyterianism, and all manner of godly Christians on both sides of the Atlantic.
Dr. Joel R. Beeke, President, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
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In for two, Chris.

Jump on this people. Three good reasons:

1. The quality of the material
2. Chris Coldwell's books are among the best constructed and bound I have ever seen
3. To encourage Chris (and fund him) to continue to do such valuable service to the Church by publishing such material.

Seriously. Do it now.
 
Many thanks Fred!
(Moved thread to Puritan lit.)
My apologies for not having an option for outside the US; I should have an estimate today on the book weight and make that option available for the prepub. pricing. I hope it will fit the economy USPS packaging so that it will be affordable for overseas purchase (but at 592 pages this may prove a challenge!).
 
Chris, is there a table of contents that you could post? It would be interesting to see what the sermons are about.

I should point out that this would make a nice gift that people can give to their pastors.
 
Looks like an excellent gift to Ministers, Pastors, Elders, Deacons, Seminary Professors and Church Libraries, too!
 
It should make an excellent gift. That's a good suggestion Ruben; I'll work something up on the contents and post it here and on the NP site.
 
Here is an expanded table of contents including the text and in Baillie's case, titles of the sermons.

Table of Contents
Preface ix
The Westminster Assembly and the Scottish Commissioners xiii
Introduction by Guy M. Richard xxxvii

Alexander Henderson
Fast Sermon to the House of Commons, December 27, 1643 -- 73
Text: Ezra 7:23. Whatsoever is commanded of the God of heaven, let it be diligently done, for the house of the God of heaven; for why should there be wrath against the realm of the King and his sons?

Thanksgiving Sermon, July 18, 1644 -- 103
Text: Matthew 14:31. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, ‘O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt.’

Fast Sermon to the House of Lords, May 28, 1645 -- 137
Text: John 18:36, 37. Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.’ Pilate therefore said unto him, ‘Art thou a king then?’ Jesus answered ‘Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.’

Robert Baillie
Fast Sermon to the House of Commons, February 28, 1643/44 -- 175
Title: Satan the Leader in Chief of all who Resist the Reparation of Sion
Text: Zechariah 3:1–2. And he showed me Joshua the high Priest, standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, ‘The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuke thee. Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?’

Fast Sermon to the House of Lords, July 30, 1645 -- 235
Title: Errors and Induration, are the Great Sins and the Great Judgments of the Time.
Text: Isaiah 63:17. Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our hearts from thy fear? return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

George Gillespie
Fast Sermon to the House of Commons, March 27, 1644 -- 291
Text: Ezekiel 43:11. And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, show them the form of the House, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them.

Fast Sermon to the House of Lords, August 27, 1645 -- 347
Text: Malachi 3:2. But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap.

Samuel Rutherford
Fast Sermon to the House of Commons, January 31, 1643/44 -- 387
Text: Daniel 6:26. I make a Decree, that in every Dominion of my Kingdom, men tremble and fear before the face of the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, and endureth forever, and his Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end.

Fast Sermon to the House of Lords, June 25, 1645 -- 463
Text: Luke 8:22–25. Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, ‘Let us go over into the other side of the lake.’ And they launched forth. But as they sailed, he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake, and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to him and awoke him, saying, ‘Master, master, we perish.’ Then he arose and rebuked the wind, and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm. And he said unto them, ‘Where is your faith?’ And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, ‘What manner of man is this? For he commandeth even the winds and the water, and they obey him.’
Mark 4:38–40. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, ‘Master, carest thou not that we perish?’ And he arose and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, ‘Peace, be still.’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, ‘Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?’
Matthew 8:26. And he saith unto them, ‘Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?’ Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

Bibliography 539
Indices 559
Commendations [591]
 
I have added a payment option for International orders shipping to outside the USA at the bottom of the original news page:
Prepublication sale (for $19.95): Sermons of Rutherford, Gillespie, Baillie and Henderson | Naphtali Press
Postage is $13.95 so the total with the book would be $33.90 for International orders.
 
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Thanks to all those who have taken the prepub offer; it is good through the end of the month. It looks like it will be ready to send out around the later half of October.
 
Ordered mine! Keep publishing the Scots! I'm looking forward to the new edition of English Popish Ceremonies.
 
Thanks again for your orders which have gone well. A few more and half the projected print run should be spoken for. This will be a relatively limited printing; 500 +/- 10%. So, don't wait too long to get yours, or until the prepub price has expired. Thanks very much.:)
 
Many thanks for those who have ordered; a reminder that this offer is good through the end of this month. For those who missed it the first times around, see the notice and book commendations in the OP at the top of the thread. We've had some preproduction redos, so I should have a revised ship date and availability date this week.
 
Looks like we may have a book. This should ship from the book maker to me early next week and I should start shipping out orders the following week (D.V.). I've extended the special pricing of $19.95 plus $4 USA shipping through October 15th. International shipping is $13.95.
 
Looks like we may have a book. This should ship from the book maker to me early next week and I should start shipping out orders the following week (D.V.). I've extended the special pricing of $19.95 plus $4 USA shipping through October 15th. International shipping is $13.95.

Is the CP Journal still due this month?

CT
 
Looks like November now (worst case would be early December). Last pieces are due by Monday but next week is an impossible one for me so I may not get it wrapped and to the book maker till the following. I haven't updated the site to reflect that reality. It really looked like we'd be sooner this year; but not the case I'm afraid.
 
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