Faith is the Substance of Things Hoped For - Puritan Thomas Manton Sermon Thank you to my dear friend and brother in Christ, Thomas Sullivan, who, through his 35 years (and counting) of narrating, has made it possible for so very many to be blessed in the hearing of the classic works of the Puritans. Visit Tom's website here: http://www.puritanaudiobooks.net/ SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/user/stack45ny After subscribing, click on NOTIFICATION BELL to be notified of new uploads. SUPPORT CHANNEL: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=RB72ANM8DJL2S&lc=US&item_name=stack45ny¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF%3abtn_donateCC_LG%2egif%3aNonHosted Follow me on no-censorship GAB: https://gab.ai/RichNY Follow me on https://www.minds.com/RichNY Battle for God and His Truth: http://battleforgodstruth.tumblr.com/ My WordPress blog: https://sermonsandsongsdotorg.com/ The corrupt heart of man is all for present satisfaction.Though the pleasures of sin are short and inconsiderable, yet because they are near at hand, they take more with us than the joys of heaven, which are future and absent. A man would wonder at the folly of men that should with Esau sell his birthright for a morsel of meat, that they should be so profane as to sell their Christ and glory, to part with the joys of Christianity for the vilest price. When lust is up and set agog, all considerations of eternal glory and blessedness are laid aside to give it satisfaction. A little pleasure, a little gain, a little convenience in the world will make men part with all that is honest and sacred. A man would wonder at their folly, but the great reason is, they live by sense. Thomas Manton - (1620-1677) Puritan clergyman After ten years in Middlesex, he was appointed to the living of St. Paul's in Covent Garden. Again he became very popular and continued to exercise a wide influence on public affairs, calling for the restoration of Charles II in 1660. He had disapproved of the execution of Charles I. In 1658, he had assisted Richard Baxter to draw up the Fundamentals of Religion. He was one of Oliver Cromwell's chaplains and a trier. The Act of Uniformity 1662 saw Manton resign his living with many other Puritans in protest at this attack on their Reformed principles. Despite his lack of patronage, he continued to preach and write even when imprisoned for refusing to cooperate. He was best known for his skilled expository preaching. His finest work is probably his Exposition of James. "I do not regard him as a writer of striking power and brilliancy, compared to some of his contemporaries. He never carries you by storm, and excites enthusiasm by passages of profound thought expressed in majestic language, such as you will find frequently in Charnock, and occasionally in Howe. He never rouses your inmost feelings, thrills your conscience, or stirs your heart of hearts, like Baxter. Such rhetoric as this was not Manton's gift, and the reader who expects to find it in his writings will be disappointed. As a writer, I consider that Manton holds a somewhat peculiar place among the Puritan divines. He has pre-eminently a style of his own, and a style very unlike that of most of his school. I will try to explain what I mean. Manton's chief excellence as a writer, in my judgment, consists in the ease, perspicuousness, and clearness of his style. He sees his subject clearly, expresses himself clearly, and seldom fails in making you see clearly what he means. He has a happy faculty of simplifying the point he handles. He never worries you with acres of long, ponderous, involved sentences, like Goodwin or Owen. His books, if not striking, are generally easy and pleasant reading, and destitute of anything harsh, cramped, obscure, and requiring a second glance to be understood. For my own part, I find it easier to read fifty pages of Manton's than ten of some of his brethren's; and after reading, I feel that I carry more away. Manton was a Calvinist in his theology. He held the very doctrine which is so admirably set forth in the seventeenth Article of the Church of England. He held the same views which were held by nine-tenths of the English Reformers, and four-fifths of all the leading divines of the Church of England down to the accession of James I. He maintained and taught personal election, the perseverance of the saints, the absolute necessity of a regeneration evidenced by its fruits, as well as salvation by free grace, justification by faith alone, and the uselessness of ceremonial observances without true and vital religion. As an expositor of Scripture, I regard Manton with unmingled admiration. Here, at any rate, he is 'facile princeps' among the divines of the Puritan school." -J.C. Ryle -~-~~-~~~-~~-~- Please watch: "A Call to Separation - A. W. Pink Christian Audio Books / Don't be Unequally Yoked / Be Ye Separate" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBDg7u21cKY -~-~~-~~~-~~-~-