The Whole Works Of The Late Reverend And Learned Mr Thomas Boston Minister Of The Gospel At Etterick Volume 1

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This comprehensive collection includes the sermons, writings, and correspondence of the influential Scottish theologian, Thomas Boston. With a focus on the gospel and practical Christian living, Boston's works continue to inspire and challenge readers today. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Assurance was a central issue for the eminent Scottish theologian-pastor Thomas Boston long before it emerged as a focal point of the theological debate in the Marrow Controversy. In The Marrow of Certainty, Chun Tse presents the first full-length study of Boston's theology of assurance in six dimensions: trinitarian, covenantal, Christological, soteriological, ecclesiastical, and sacramental. This work not only furnishes the first-ever intellectual biography of Boston in his Scottish context and controversies, but it also cross-studies the theology of the Marrow of Modern Divinity with Boston's notes. This research argues that Boston's doctrine of assurance centres on union and communion with Christ, the architectonic principle of his theology. The book challenges the common conception that Boston's theology merely follows Calvin, the Scots Confession, the Marrow, the Westminster Standards, and Scottish federalism. Boston, most strikingly, holds in tension assurance as intrinsic to faith—itself a gift from God's sovereignty in election—while insisting on self-examination as a human responsibility. This salient mark of his doctrine of assurance originates from his assertion that Christ died for the elect alone but all—elect or not—have the warrant to receive Christ. As such, assurance is, theologically, a divine gift and, pastorally, a human endeavour. Certainty is thus both extra nos and intra nos. Boston, this study reveals, has a potent and enduring power to speak on the perennial issue of assurance, rooted in the person of Christ, whom he considers as being the covenant itself.

How did the penitentiary get its name? Why did the English impose long prison sentences? Did class and economic conflict really lie at the heart of their correctional system? In a groundbreaking study that challenges the assumptions of modern criminal justice scholarship, Laurie Throness answers many questions like these by exposing the deep theological roots of the judicial institutions of eighteenth-century Britain. The book offers a scholarly account of the passage of the Penitentiary Act of 1779, combining meticulous attention to detail with a sweeping theological overview of the century prior to the Act. But it is not just an intellectual history. It tells a fascinating story of a broader religious movement, and the people and beliefs that motivated them to create a new institution. The work is original because it relies so completely on original sources. It is mystical because it mingles heavenly with earthly justice. It is authoritative because of its explanatory power. Its anecdotes and insights, poetry and song, provide intriguing glimpses into another era strangely familiar to our own. Of special interest to social and legal historians, criminologists, and theologians, this work will also appeal to a wider audience of those who are interested in Christianity's impact on Western culture and institutions.