Many today believe that the Christian life is rather easy to both obtain and live. But the Puritans saw it as warfare, as wrestling, as "holy violence" to use their term. The Apostle Paul spoke of beating his own body into subjection. And this holy violence is to be brought not only against one's self, but against Satan, the world, and heaven too. And in this confrontation, we must use the weapons God has given us: reading the Word, hearing the Word, prayer, meditation, self-examination, and the due observance of the Lord's Day.

In this significant historical study, F. F. Bruce brings the wisdom of a lifetime of reflection and biblical interpretation to bear in answering the questions and clearing away the confusion surrounding the Christian canon of Scripture. Adept in both Old and New Testament studies, he brings a rare comprehensive perspective to his task.

All Things for Good by Thomas Watson provides the biblical answer to the contemporary question: Why do bad things happen to good people? Thomas Watson, the 17th-century minister of St. Stephen's Walbrook, believed he faced two great difficulties in his pastoral ministry. The first was making the unbeliever sad in the recognition of his need of God's grace. The second was making the believer joyful in response to God's grace.

The Puritans, as a body, have done more to elevate the national character than any class of Englishmen that ever lived. Ardent lovers of civil liberty, and ready to die in its defense - mighty at the council board, and no less mighty in the battlefield - feared abroad throughout Europe, and invincible at home while united - great with their pens, and no less great with their swords - fearing God very much, and fearing men very little - they were a generation of men who have never received from their country the honor that they deserve.

A Body of Divinity, considered a classic among 17th-century Puritan works, contains a series of sermons on the Westminster Catechism, a central catechism in English-speaking Calvinist churches. Watson details several of the questions and answers from the Catechism.

The essays in The Beauty and Glory of the Reformation illustrate the rich biblical, doctrinal, experiential, and practical heritage passed on by the great 16th-century Reformation. Through these studies, you will be challenged to treasure basic Reformation principles such as Scripture alone, Christ alone, and the glory of God alone, as well as to increase your awareness of what amazing spiritual mentors and models of godliness a variety of Reformation stalwarts were and what they can still teach us today.

In this comprehensive exposition, a leading New Testament scholar explores the unfolding theological unity of the entire Bible from the vantage point of the New Testament. G. K. Beale, coeditor of the award-winning Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, examines how the New Testament storyline relates to and develops the Old Testament storyline. Beale argues that every major concept of the New Testament is a development of a concept from the Old and is to be understood as a facet of the inauguration of the latter-day new creation and kingdom.

Institutes of the Christian Religion is John Calvin's seminal work on Protestant systematic theology. Highly influential in the Western world and still widely read by theological students today, it was published in Latin in 1536 and in his native French in 1541. The book serves as an introductory textbook on the Protestant faith for those with some previous knowledge of theology and covers a broad range of theological topics from the doctrines of church and sacraments to justification by faith alone and Christian liberty.

In the throes of a long illness and confronting the possibility of death, 17th-century theologian Richard Baxter found comfort in the reality of heaven that awaits believers of Christ. During his recovery, Baxter wrote about the afterlife in what would become his best-selling book. The Saints' Everlasting Rest meditates on what Scripture reveals about heaven, helping believers live an abundant, God-honoring life in anticipation of eternal rest. Baxter encourages listeners not to become distracted or discouraged by the temporal as he refocuses their minds on the eternal.

David Brainerd (1718-1747) was a missionary to the Native Americans in Delaware, New York, New Jersey, and Eastern Pennsylvania. Edited by the eminent Puritan theologian and Preacher Jonathan Edwards, The Life and Diary of David Brainerd (1749) became a source of inspiration and encouragement to many Christians, including the theologian John Wesley and missionaries such as William Carey and Jim Elliot.