Works of Stephen Charnock 5 Vol Set

Beautiful brand new set of 5 volumes!!

The Lord Jesus has showed me that I sinned in my previous review. My previous review would lead people to believe they should not read these works. The works themselves are not the problem. They are anointed by the Holy Spirit. There are better editions by Cross Reach publications. At present they have only completed two of the five volumes. May it please the Lord Jesus that they would quickly complete the other three. I ask the forgiveness of those I may have harmed by my previous review. I repent of my sin.

They are good but wish there was an active table of contents . Coping was fine for reading , I would pay more for the active table of contents.

These books have changed my life and will take years to work through in detail.

“The Works of Stephen Charnock” is published by the Banner of Truth Trust. It was orignally published by them in 2010 with the most recent reprint being in 2021. Charnock’s works were originally published by James Nichol in 1864.Wow. What a gift! The works of Charnock are an absolute blessing to the church today. These 5 volumes contain some of the richest teaching of the Bible that one will ever find published! Charnock is of course most famously known for his writing on the attributes of God. As a matter of fact, the first 2 volumes in this 5 volume set contain his teachings on the attributes of God. But he also was a tremendous preacher who preached on many other topics as evidenced in the remaining three volumes. Below is a quick summary of what each of the volumes contains:Volume 1: An introduction to Charnock’s life, preaching, theology, and works in general by James McCosh. This is followed by a discourse on divine providence which is based on 2 Chronicles 16:9. Charnock masterfully and clearly teaches on a doctrine that is difficult for finite minds to wrap their minds around. He helps the reader to find great comfort in the providence of a good God! The remainder of volume one contains the first 8 discourses on “The Existence and Attributes of God”. He covers practical atheism, God’s being a Spirit, spiritual worship, the eternity of God, immutability of God, omnipresence, and knowledge of God.Volume 2: A continuation of “The Existence and Attributes of God”. 6 Attributes are covered: wisdom, power, holiness, goodness, God’s dominion, and God’s patience.Volume 3: The following theological topics are covered: the necessity, nature, and efficient of regeneration; The Word as the instrument of regeneration; God, the author of reconciliation; and the cleansing virtue of Christ’s blood.Volume 4: The knowledge of God; the knowledge of God in Christ; conviction of sin; unbelief as the greatest sin; unbelievers and their misery; the Lord’s Supper; self-examination; the knowledge of Christ crucified; Christ our Passover; the voluntariness of Christ’s death; the acceptableness of Christ’s death; obedience.Volume 5: The final volume includes a large amount of topics, such as: the necessity of Christ’s death and exaltation; Christ’s intercession; the object of faith; afflictions; the removal of the Gospel; mercy received; mortification; weak grace victorious; the sinfulness and cure of thoughts; the church’s stability; the fifth of November; delight in prayer; mourning for other men’s sins; the comfort of childbearing women; the sins of the regenerate; the pardon of sin; man’s enmity to God; chief sinners objects of the choicest mercy; and finally, an index of texts.Before diving into the content further, let me say a word about the aesthetics of the books (for all those book nerds like me out there). Banner of Truth publishes some of the most beautiful books in the world, and this series is proof of that. The books are bright red hardcovers with black and gold on the spine. Banner of Truth is found in gold lettering on the bottom of the spine. There is a beautiful picture of London in the early 17th century inside the front cover and a picture of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin (where Charnock lectured from 1655-1660), inside the back cover. For those who don’t mind dust jackets (like myself), the covers contain a picture of Emmanuel College in Cambridge along with a picture of Charnock. I really like the cover of these volumes! I found the print to be just a little smaller than I prefer. However, each volume is around 500+ pages already, so I understand the decision to make it as small as it is. The volumes are very well done, and they are sure to last for a very long time.The content of these volumes is simply phenomenal! Though I certainly haven’t had the chance to read everything within these volumes, the chapters that I did read were pure gold! Charnock was a Puritan, and he is, in my opinion, one of the elite Puritans. He was clear, passionate, experiential, warm-hearted, practical, theological, and pastoral. His writings are, without a doubt, going to lead the reader to worship the Lord God! The reader will, without a doubt, grow in their understanding of who God is. The reader will be challenged and edified. The reader will learn what it's like to not be able to put a book down. The reader will enjoy reading something not just once, twice, or even three times, but perhaps even four times just to make sure they rightly understand the glorious truth that they were reading. When I read books like these, it amazes me that they aren’t on the bookshelves of every Christian in the world! That’s how sweet these volumes are. I could go on and on, but instead, I’ll just encourage you to tolle lege, take up and read! You won’t regret it.Disclaimer: My thanks to the Banner of Truth Trust for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. The opinions expressed are my own.

Title: The Complete Works of Stephen CharnockAuthor: Edited & Originally published by Richard Adams and Edward VealPublisher: The Banner of Truth TrustFirst Copyright Date: 1864Type of Book: Hardcover, paper-jacketed, Five (5) VolumesGeneral Subject Matter: TheologySpecial Features: NonePrice: $129.00ISBN: 978-1-84871-100-6Since the author never published his works, save one sermon entitled "On the Sinfulness and the Cure of Evil Thoughts," it is impossible to detail the purpose of Charnock for the writing or publishing of this monumental work. However, we can glean form the comments to the reader by the editors Adams and Veal, we can deduce that they believed the material of these some sixty-four (64) sermons or discourses are of such great spiritual weight that the church would only immensely benefit by their publication."So that thou hast here, reader, a specimen of the strain and spirit of this holy man, this being his familiar and ordinary way of preaching, and the sermons coming out first...that a blessing from heaven may be upon this work, and upon thee in reading and studying the nature, and beauty..."In the words of J.I. Packer, "Charnock has no desire to speculate, but only to declare the works and ways, the nature and character, of the God of the Bible."Charnock developed these messages or discourses from intense study, prayer, and meditation. He then would preach these discourses from memory or with very little notes. Charnock's design was to inform, inspire, and integrate his flock's heart and soul with the divinely inspired word of God. His intended audience was his flock and any all believers who bend their heart and soul to the Spirit of God.The style of Charnock was very didactic. He seems to put as much weight and meaning into each and every word as He could. His style is formal and of the time and period of the early to mid-17th century.In evaluating Charnock's style it is easy to see how clear, concise, and very forceful. When I say forceful however, I mean backed by the power of the Holy Spirit and by their belonging to God. The table of contents gives almost know clues as to how the volumes are organized other than the tiles of the sermons. This is not a regular book where main ideas and sub-points are developed. There is no determining or detecting topical or chronological points.These volumes affected me very deeply. I used Mortimer J. Adler's second level of reading, called Inspectional Reading, from his book How to Read a Book. I used his format of systematic skimming or pre-reading to familiarize myself with these five (5) volumes. These sermons are very deep and need read many times to get the full benefit. They certainly improved my spiritual life by reading them. This collection of Charnock's volumes enhanced my own personal spiritual understanding and course. I would recommend this set without a single reservation to any Christian of any level who will honestly take the time to prayerfully and meditatively read this discourses.It is impossible to discover a theme and thesis for this collection. Again, it is unlike other books written with specific themes or thesis, it is a collection of sermons or discourses on varying topics and scriptures. The reader must discover the theme and thesis of each sermon or discourse as one reads them.This collection is of utmost interest. Charnock accurate exegetes the Scriptures for the benefit of his readers. The importance of this work cannot be overstated in this lifetime. The spiritual value contained in this collection is second only to the Bible itself.Very little is known about Stephen Charnock, much to his own design and desire. A smidgen of information about Charnock was gleaned from the sermon preached at his death and from a brief pre-fix entitled "To the Reader" by the publishers Adam and Veal. He even disappeared from the grid for about fifteen (15) years. As a godly man and theologically educated he is immensely qualified to preach as he did.Charnock was born in London in 1628 and studied for the ministry at Emmanuel College in Cambridge. He preached in Southwark, England. Charnock then took more education at Oxford. He served in Ireland as a chaplain to Henry Cromwell. He returned to London in 1660. Here he studied and ministered privately until 1675. He then shared the pastorate with Thomas Watson in Bishopsgate. Charnock died in July of 1680 at the age of fifty-two (52.)There is a subject and scripture index at the end of volume five (5). There are a few notes at the bottom of the pages of each sermon for explanation or definition. There is no foot-note or end-note page as these are sermons. There is no bibliography.In summary, I am still being blessed by the depth of study and information contained in these five (5) volumes. The content is essential to the spiritual well development of God's people.Volume One - contains an introduction to Charnock's life, the first eight (8) sermons on The Existence and Attributes of God.Volume Two - contains the conclusion to the sermons on The Existence and Attributes of God.Volume Three - contains his sermons on regeneration. This is a must read! This tells how spiritually dead sinners are made alive with new life in Christ.Volume Four - contains fifteen (15) more sermons pertinent to the Christian life. The first six (6) sermons are from the Gospel of John and relate to enjoying happiness in the saving knowledge of God through Jesus Christ.Volume Five - contains nineteen (19) sermons from the New Testament and five (5) sermons from the Old Testament on various topics pertinent to believers.

Stephen Charnock is the Aquinas of the Reformed world (IMHO), and these volumes are masterful. But my review is ONLY about the book quality. As much as I love Banner of Truth, and their resurrection of lost Puritan classics, their continued failure to have a new modern typeface is a stain on both their quality and the authors profundity. The physical books themselves are a superb work of craftsmanship, heavy and solid with durable dust jackets. But for some reason (I assume financial) they won't go the extra step and adopt a new typeface. It really is too bad, as our eyes these days struggle with tiny facsimile typeface. But if you want the complete Charnock this is it! However if you are just looking for the more popular works there are other publishers who have produced more reader-friendly volumes.

This is a must read for any serious Christian who wants to know the true God and His Son Jesus Christ.

Excellent

Completely satisfied