Collection · 32 books · 1524 to 1915 AD
Christian Living
Practical works on prayer, devotion, meditation, and daily Christian life.
1500s
1600s
A Wedding Sermon
William Whately · 1617 AD — a direct guide to the chastity, mutual care, and love that hold a marriage together.
Domestic Duties: For Husbands
William Gouge · 1622 AD — the husband's calling to love his wife as Christ loves the church.
Domestic Duties: For Parents
William Gouge · 1622 AD — the parents' calling to raise children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Domestic Duties: For Wives
William Gouge · 1622 AD — the wife's calling, attitudes, and responsibilities within marriage.
The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart
Jan Amos Comenius · 1623 AD — a pilgrim's guided tour of the world's vanities and his heart's true rest.
The School of Infancy
Jan Amos Comenius · 1633 AD — a handbook for raising children through their first six years.
The Great Didactic
Jan Amos Comenius · 1638 AD — the founding argument that schools should be places of delight, not dread.
Looking Unto Jesus
Isaac Ambrose · 1658 AD — Ambrose's devotional tracing Christ's saving work from eternity past to eternity future.
The Whole Duty of Man
Richard Allestree · 1658 AD — seventeen Sunday readings on the duties of a Christian life, with private devotions.
The Gentleman's Calling
Richard Allestree · 1660 AD — education, wealth, time, authority, and reputation treated as talents held in trust.
Prayer
John Bunyan · 1662 AD — why true prayer is the Spirit's work in the heart, not mere form or words.
The One Thing Necessary
Jan Amos Comenius · 1668 AD — an old man's case that life's labyrinths are escaped by holding to the one thing necessary.
A Family Built by God
Richard Steele · 1670 AD — directions for family worship, child-rearing, and ordering a godly household.
The Ladies' Calling
Richard Allestree · 1673 AD — counsel for women through life as maid, wife, and widow.
The Government of the Tongue
Richard Allestree · 1674 AD — an anonymous 1674 manual on the sins of speech, from slander and flattery to boasting and complaint, and how to govern the tongue.
A Practical Guide on Fear
John Flavel · 1682 AD — distinguishes the fears that paralyze from the fear of God that frees the soul.
Preparations for Suffering
John Flavel · 1682 AD — how to prepare the soul for affliction before trouble arrives.
The Return of Prayers
Thomas Goodwin · 1683 AD — how to recognize God's answers to prayer, even unexpected ones.
The Duty of Husbands and Wives Toward Each Other
Richard Steele · 1684 AD — mutual duties of marriage drawn from Ephesians 5, mirroring Christ and the church.
The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation
John Ray · 1691 AD — a survey of the created world as evidence of divine design.
1700s
A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life
William Law · 1729 AD — the 1729 argument that devotion means a whole life given to God, from work and money to the hours of daily prayer.
The Improvement of the Mind
Isaac Watts · 1741 AD — practical rules for reading, conversation, meditation, and disciplined study.
An Enquiry
William Carey · 1792 AD — the 1792 argument that Christ's commission still binds every Christian to carry the gospel to the nations.
1800s
The Expulsive Power of a New Affection
Thomas Chalmers · 1819 AD — why love of the world is displaced only by a stronger love, not by argument.
Letters to a Daughter
William Sprague · 1850 AD — Sprague's letters of fatherly counsel to his motherless daughter.
The Suffering Savior
Friedrich Wilhelm Krummacher · 1854 AD — a scene by scene meditation on Christ's passion from Bethany to the tomb.
The Precious Things of God
Octavius Winslow · 1869 AD — the riches of Christ met for doubt, sorrow, temptation, and joy.
Formation of Character
Benjamin Palmer · 1876 AD — lectures to young men on building the virtues that sustain a lifetime.
Home Education
Charlotte Mason · 1886 AD — the 1886 lectures that launched her case that children are born persons.
Parents and Children
Charlotte Mason · 1897 AD — the second volume of Mason's Home Education Series, on the parents' calling.
1900s
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