Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Meets weekly at 907 Hillsboro Boulevard, Manchester, TN, 37355. Currently, our church is without a pastor/elder and the members meet weekly for praise and worship in hymn, prayer, reading of Scripture, study of the word, and fellowship.
Iain Murray is one of my all time favorite authors. His scholarship and piety are well known in Evangelical circles both here and the UK, not to mention Australia. When I read his biography of Martyn Lloyd-Jones a few years ago, I was settled in my conviction that a better biography could not be penned. I have since read several “lives” of various persons throughout the ages. Recently, I took up a book I had wanted to read for a long time, and had two prior false starts with it. Iain Murray’s Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography (Banner of Truth, 1987) is that work. Though not as long as the Lloyd-Jones two-volume text, this work is of supreme value to the historian, the theologian, the pastor and the missionary. I suspect that mostly preachers will dare to tackle the Lloyd-Jones bio and probably only those of serious evangelical predicament, where as I have a hunch that this book on Edwards will appeal to a much broader audience. I wish every Christian could read it. It is seamless in its flowing prose. It is superbly documented, with attention to detail, and thus allows one to attempt further and deeper study in Edwards himself and past masters of his life. This book may be one of the best biographies written on any subject. Having read to and with my children a biography on Edwards geared to younger readers (grades 6-9) we thought we knew Edwards. This superb book by Murray has opened vistas and allowed glimpses into Edwards’s soul. His forthrightness in standing upon Scripture at the cost of his own reputation, sustenance and future livelihood is highly challenging in a day of compromise and climbing of the ministerial ladder. Would to God that preachers everywhere were more concerned with the honor of the Triune God of the Bible than with their 401Ks. Do yourself a favor; buy a copy of Murray’s Jonathan Edwards. In fact, get a few and give them to the pastors in your church. It may prove to be a catalyst for holiness and revival, in that order!