Lloyd-Jones to Church Members: Read Jonathan Edwards.

In his book, The Puritans: Their Origins and Successors, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote about “Jonathan Edwards and the Crucial Importance of Revival.” Needless to say, the church in the 21st century is in need of revival. The answer many churches are resorting to is the path of Charles Finney with protracted meetings (revival meetings) and anxious seats (altar calls). Lloyd-Jones offers an alternative for those church members seeking revival. He writes:

“My advice to you is: Read Jonathan Edwards. Stop going to so many meetings; stop craving for the various forms of entertainment which are so popular in evangelical circles at the present time. Learn to stay at home. Learn to read again, and do not merely read the exciting stories of certain modern people. Go back to something solid and deep and real. Are we losing the art of reading? Revivals have often started as the result of people reading volumes such as these two volumes of Edwards’ works. So read this man. Decide to do so. Read his sermons; read his practical treatises, and then go on to the great discourses on theological subjects. But above all, let all of us, preachers and listeners, having read this man, try to capture and to lay hold upon his greatest emphasis of all – the glory of God.”

– D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Puritans: Their Origins and Successors (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1987), 369-70.