Review: The Existence and Attributes of God vol. 1 by Charnock
Or you can listen to just the audio here:
In this video, we take a look at the first volume of the massive work The Existence and Attributes of God by Stephen Charnock. These are absolutely beautiful volumes that are equally full of beautiful content. I highly recommend.
Book info
P. #: 736, Faux leather (TruTone), hardcover, smythsewen
Author: Stephen Charnock (1628-1680)
Life: Charnock is best known for the work we are reviewing today, but he has also written other works such as his treatise on regeneration. He was one of the prominent English Puritans of the 17th century, and was a Presbyterian Clergyman. Charnock studied at Emannuel College, Cambridge where he was influenced by Puritan theology. In the short biography in this volume by William Symington, it states, (p. 20) “Not only was his acquaintance with the original languages of Scripture great...” And another lovely quote, (p. 22) “His best and most...”
General info about author: I couldn’t find any information on whether Charnock was ever married or had children, but his legacy lives on to this day, especially with this beautiful edition published by Crossway.
Overall Summery/review:
This book is split into discourses, which I hope Charnock did not preach all at once. They are incredibly long; some of them reaching 130 pages.
Charnock writes a total of 14 discourses (which I’ll read for you later). In this volume, we have the first 8.
Mark Jones did the Church a great service by editing this work. This edition is updated. But not abridged. The amount of editorial work that Jones did, however, is huge. One of the first things I said to myself upon opening this first volume was, ‘wow, this must have taken his whole life.’
In Total, Mark Jones in his introduction, says that he made 20 editorial changes. Some of the biggest or most noticeable ones are: run-on sentences have been fixed, number headings fixed, Archaic words updated, insertion of biblical and quotation references (this is HUGE), British spelling to American, and of course, his introductions to every discourse which discusses what Charnock will say, and also puts everything in historical context. Most of these things I just mentioned, result in 100s and 100s of footnotes, which are extremely helpful.
Joel Beeke said of this work, “Lightly edited for the modern reader and studded with insightful introductions to each discourse, this new edition by Mark Jones will be a great help to all who seek diligently to know the Lord.”
This is truly a beautiful and helpful set that has been made to last not just your lifetime, but your children’s and grandchildren’s.
More in-depth: Personal info relating to book.
Quotes: p. 37, 42, 65, 68, 80, 92, 106, 109, 115, 123, 128, 141, 176, 252, 266, 288, 317, 328, 443, 483, 637, 707,