The Library

• Institutes of the Christian Religion (Books I–III) — John Calvin, 1559. Calvin's great summary of the faith: the knowledge of God the Creator, of God the Redeemer in Christ, and of how we receive His grace. John Allen's translation (1813).
• Confessions — Augustine of Hippo, 397. Augustine's life told as a prayer to God, from a restless youth to rest in Him. E. B. Pusey's translation.
• Commentary on Galatians — Martin Luther, 1535. The book Bunyan said he preferred above all others except the Bible: Christian righteousness is received, not achieved.
• Concerning Christian Liberty — Martin Luther, 1520. "A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none; a Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all."
• The Ninety-Five Theses — Martin Luther, 1517. The theses that began the Reformation, posted at Wittenberg on 31 October 1517.
• The Small Catechism — Martin Luther, 1529. Luther's catechism for the household: the Commandments, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer and the sacraments.
• The Large Catechism — Martin Luther, 1529. Luther's fuller teaching on the Commandments, Creed, Lord's Prayer, Baptism and the Supper, for pastors and heads of homes.
• Table Talk (selections) — Martin Luther, 1566. Luther's sayings at his table, gathered by his students.
• The Augsburg Confession — Philip Melanchthon, 1530. The Lutheran confession presented to Charles V at Augsburg — the first great Protestant confession.
• The Pilgrim's Progress — John Bunyan, 1678. Christian's journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City.
• Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners — John Bunyan, 1666. Bunyan's own account of his conversion and his imprisonment.
• The Holy War — John Bunyan, 1682. King Shaddai and his Son Emmanuel win back the town of Mansoul from Diabolus.
• The Imitation of Christ — Thomas à Kempis, 1427. The devotional classic of the late Middle Ages (read with discernment — it predates the Reformation).
• The Practice of the Presence of God — Brother Lawrence, 1692. Conversations and letters of a kitchen monk on walking with God in ordinary work.
• Sermons to the Natural Man — William G. T. Shedd, 1871. Twenty sermons on sin, the law and the need of Christ, by the Presbyterian theologian of Union Seminary.
• Expositions of Holy Scripture: Psalms — Alexander Maclaren, 1904. The Baptist 'prince of expositors' preaching through the Psalms.
• The History of the Reformation in Scotland (Works, vol. 1) — John Knox, 1587. Knox's own history of the Scottish Reformation, books I–II.
• The Covenants and the Covenanters — James Kerr (ed.), 1895. The National Covenant, the Solemn League and Covenant, and sermons of the Scottish Covenanters.
• The World's Great Sermons, vol. 1: Basil to Calvin — Grenville Kleiser (ed.), 1908. Basil, Chrysostom, Augustine, Bernard, Wycliffe, Luther, Zwingli, Latimer, Knox, Calvin and others.
• The World's Great Sermons, vol. 2: Hooker to South — Grenville Kleiser (ed.), 1908. Hooker, Andrewes, Donne, Taylor, Baxter, Bunyan and their contemporaries.
• The World's Great Sermons, vol. 3: Massillon to Mason — Grenville Kleiser (ed.), 1908. Including Edwards, Wesley and Whitefield.
• The World's Great Sermons, vol. 4: Beecher to Bushnell — Grenville Kleiser (ed.), 1908. Nineteenth-century preachers, including Chalmers and M'Cheyne's contemporaries.
• The Psalms of David Imitated — Isaac Watts, 1719. Watts's Christian paraphrases of the Psalms — 'O God, Our Help in Ages Past', 'Joy to the World', 'Jesus Shall Reign'.
• Hymns and Spiritual Songs — Isaac Watts, 1707. Including 'When I Survey the Wondrous Cross' and 'Alas! and Did My Saviour Bleed'.
• Orthodoxy — G. K. Chesterton, 1908. Chesterton's witty account of how he came to believe the creeds.