Treasure Map to Treasure Chest

A story about books.

J.I. Packer’s A Quest for Godliness stands as my favorite read in 2020. As the different “top books” lists are making their rounds, that’s mine. Published in 1990 as a collection of essays dating back to the 1950s, Packer’s “ode to Puritanism” is a treasure chest — or better, a treasure map.

I started reading the book in memory of the late Dr. Packer, and in honor of the lunch I once spent with him. It was nearly a decade ago when he told me, an aspiring pastor, to read the Puritans, not merely dabble with them. I told him I would, and for what it’s worth, I want to make good on that.

A Quest isn’t exactly a smooth read, but what would we expect from a treasure map? It’s made for slow combing and chasing footnotes, and then there’s Thomas Brooks.

One insight, among several, that I’ve gleaned from Packer is the ministry of assurance in the Christian life. I’ve realized that much of what I’m trying to do when I repeat to myself (and others) that “Jesus is real” is the assurance of such truth. Every Christian, by definition, has faith that Jesus is real, but then assurance is a tonic, as it were, that increases faith. Assurance is an “invigoration of faith [that] results in a new release of energy at every point in one’s Christian life.”

A few years ago I preached a short series called Gospel Reset, which expounded the statement: 

The more we are assured of God’s love and of how much we don’t deserve it, then the more we are humbled and filled with joy, then the more we are poured out in love for others, which all amounts to magnifying the glory of God.

A key word there is “assured.” So it’s been around for a while, but I’ve not really attended to it (which I’d like to do, and have some ideas for). We are saved on the basis of Jesus’s finished work, through faith, not assurance. Assurance is a gift of Christian maturity that follows, in increasing amounts, and allows us to lay hold of our salvation and live in its light. It’s something we should want, and ask for. The Puritans understood this, and they had much to say about it, most notably Thomas Goodwin, Richard Sibbes, and Thomas Brooks.

Okay, so Thomas Brooks. He wrote,

Assurance is the beauty and top of a Christian’s glory in this life. It is usually attended with the strongest joy, with the sweetest comforts, and with the greatest peace.

Hello! I’ll take all of the above, please!

Well, that got me started on the Brooks trail (1608–1680). He pastored a couple different churches in London through the most tumultuous time of English history, and late in his life, in a farewell sermon to his congregation, he famously preached a 27-point sermon. Such a Puritan move.

Okay, get this: a couple hundred years later there would be another London pastor who considered Brooks his favorite Puritan. That pastor’s name was Charles Spurgeon, and he loved Brooks so much that in 1855 he published a book of Brooks’ best sayings. He titled it “Smooth Stones Taken from Ancient Brooks” (see what he did there?)

And there’s more! Spurgeon’s book is still in print from Banner of Truth! You can order it here for only $11 and get it by December 15. Merry Christmas!

I have a copy right here beside me, and Dr. Packer must be smiling, if such a thing is possible in the intermediate state. 

These are Spurgeon’s hand-picked excerpts (from 1855) of Thomas Brook’s writings (from the mid-1600s). It is a treasure chest.