Grace The Truth, Growth, and Different Degrees

Description

“Christopher Love was a brilliant young Welsh preacher and rising star in the world of Puritan ministry,” wrote the late J.I. Packer. Love was highly regarded by his peers. He was a staunch Presbyterian and a Covenanter. The American preacher, Jonathan Edwards, read Love and had his books in his personal library.

Here are Love’s 15 sermons on grace, taken from 1 Kings 14:13: “Because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel.” The Puritans saw a God who looked for “some good thing” in His people. The “hall of fame” in Hebrews 11 is full of people who, for all we know, only did one good thing, and yet they are held up as models of faith. That indeed is grace, and that indeed is amazing!

Christopher Love is one of my favorite Puritans. And this book on “Grace” is, in my opinion, one of the 3 best books I’ve ever published in over 30 years of reprinting the Puritans. If there’s a single theme to this book it is this: Christ is a better Savior than I am a sinner. —Dr. Don Kistler, Editor.

Table of Contents:

1. The Introduction – 1 Kings 14:13

2. The doctrine stated – 1 Kings 14:13

3. Some have only the beginnings of true grace – 1 Kings 14:13

4. What is the least measure of true grace? – 1 Kings 14:13

5. God takes notice of the least beginnings of grace in the hearts of His people – 1 Kings 14:13

6. We must all labor to be strong in grace – 2 Timothy 2:1

7. What are the marks of strong Christians? – 2 Timothy 2:1

8. Are strong temptations consistent with strong grace? – 2 Timothy 2:1

9. May strength of grace be consistent with strength of lust and corruption in the heart? – 2 Timothy 2:1

10. May strength of grace consist with the want of those strong affections Christians had at their conversion? – 2 Timothy 2:1

11. May a man who has strength of grace lack the comfort of that grace? – 2 Timothy 2:1

12. May a man be said to have strength of grace who has weak gifts? – 2 Timothy 2:1

13. Application of the first doctrine – 2 Timothy 2:1

14. All measures of grace come from Christ – 2 Timothy 2:1

15. Further application and conclusion. – 2 Timothy 2:1

Author 

Christopher Love was born in Cardiff, Wales. He attended New Inn Hall, Oxford, and graduated in 1635. A staunch Presbyterian, Love had difficulty gaining ordination in the Church of England. He was offered ordination in Scotland if he would pastor a church there, but he was desirous of ministering in England. He did receive the ordination in England he so desired. Before he assumed the pastorate of St. Lawrence Jewry in London, Love catechized and taught theology to the children of the sheriff of London, and it was while living in that home that he met his wife, Mary Stone. They had five children, two girls who died early in life, and three boys, the last one was born a week after Love's death. Christopher Love was arrested by Cromwell's forces for his alleged involvement in a plan to raise money for the restoration of the monarchy, a charge Love denied. He was tried and convicted on charges of treason. Though several other prominent London ministers were also arrested, including Thomas Watson, they were all released. Christopher Love was beheaded on Tower Hill, London, on August 22, 1651.