{Book Review} The Puritans Day by Day

Banner of Truth has produced a unique, beautiful devotional that is based upon Puritan quotations. This work was originally compiled by H.J. Horn in 1928, and in it, he provides quotes from the Puritans’ writings which are then organized by topic.

The Puritans Day by Day devotional is unique in that it isn’t a short, reflective writing about a particular verse or passage. Instead, for each of the 365 days, there are approximately 6-9 different one-sentence quotations that accord with the topic for that given day. This format is especially helpful for the Bible teacher and preacher!

W.M. Slow mentions in the foreword to the book:

“Young preachers should keep this volume, with its careful ordering, and its full indexes, lying at their right hand, and in days when the mind is dull and the spirit is weary, they will find it to be the brook in the way.”

W.M. Slow

However, this devotional is by no means only for the preacher and teacher. This work is a display of the Puritans’ masterful grasp of the Word of God and the hearts of mankind. For that reason, every follower of Jesus Christ would greatly benefit from this devotional.

Features of The Puritans Day by Day

• The size of this devotional is just right! Not too big, not too little.
• The typeset is 10.5/13.5, making for a very comfortable read.
• The format of the date is located at the top right of the page, and it is day/month format (Example: 1 January). This is in contrast to some devotionals that limit you to one year of reading (Example: Monday, January 1st).
• Beautiful, cloth-bound book with dust-jacket (the images on the dust-jacket are of the exterior and interior of Lavenham Parish Church, located in Suffolk, England).
• The topic for the day is located at the very top of the page in bold text (you can’t miss it).
• Relevant Bible verses are located just under the topic in italics.
• The author of the quote is listed on every individual quote.
• When an old English word is used in which the meaning is unclear, an asterisk is provided to alert you to a footnote that will define the term.
• The back of the book provides the following: List of Authors, Index of Scripture Texts, and Index of Subjects. I found the index of subjects to be the most useful. If you’re looking for a specific topic, go to the index and the page number of that topic will be provided to you.

Drawbacks to The Puritans Day by Day

• By far, the greatest drawback to this devotional is the absence of the ribbon marker!
• The author index lists all of the authors that are found in the devotional, but there are no page numbers to indicate where you can find their quotes.

Cost of The Puritans Day by Day

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The Puritans Day by Day is available straight from the publisher (banneroftruth.org) for $20.70; christianbook.com for $20.99; and on amazon.com for $23. (Note that prices are current at the time of this post and may likely change.)

Summary

I highly recommend this book if you would like to get a glimpse of how the Puritans thought about different topics. Again, these quotations are brief, one-sentence aphorisms about a specific topic, so this devotional isn’t intended to give you an in-depth dealing on particular topics that the Puritans wrote, lectured, and preached on. Instead, these are quotations that were taken from those much larger works that do indeed cover the larger terrain. Short, pithy statements serve their own purpose, and this accumulation of such sayings is meant to accomplish that means. I believe that it does so successfully.

Disclaimer: My thanks to The Banner of Truth Trust for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book on behalf of an unbiased review. The opinions expressed are my own.