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The free offer of the gospel has been a matter of significant debate within Reformed theology. However, despite this controversy, Reformed theologians such as James Durham preached a gospel offer which was a sincere and free invitation from God to all, to embrace Jesus Christ as Saviour. This gospel offer expressed God's grace and goodness to all. Donald MacLean argues that Durham's doctrinal position is representative of the Westminster Standards and embraced by his contemporaries and evidenced by the later disputes concerning the meaning of the teaching of the Westminster Confession of Faith.

James Durham shows the blessedness of those who die in the Lord as well as the misery of those who reject Him. He gives directions for dying in the Lord, shows what to do when death comes suddenly, and then shows all of a believers comfort in death.

James Durham (1622-1658) was a great Scottish Puritan who ministered in Glasgow until his early death at the age of 36. This rare book contains fourteen rich gospel sermons with the free grace of God dripping from every page. Originally communion sermons preached to his congregation, these sermons unfold the riches of grace and glory found in Jesus Christ. Some of the sermons contained are "Gospel Presentations are the Strongest Invitations," "The Best Wares at the Lowest Rates," "Remission of Sins is Through Christ's Blood Alone," and "A Believer's Sweetest Communion is with Christ in Heaven."

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Is this just another book on infant baptism? No. It is possibly the best succinct, yet comprehensive work on the subject ever written by a puritan. It was originally a longer series of sermons that Harrison preached to his congregation, many of whom were Baptist at the time. At their request, he placed his thoughts into a concise treatise that covers all the main points needful in understanding the biblical position of infant inclusion in the Covenant of Grace, and infant baptism. Harrison’s work is so acute in its biblical presentation of the truth of Scripture that the reader cannot be but left in awe of his masterful exactitude to God’s mind on the issue of infant inclusion in the Covenant of Grace, and the application of the sign of the covenant to every visible member in the church. He gives the reader an introductory lesson on the Covenant of Grace and those parties involved by way of its membership, and then proceeds to teach the reader why infants are to be baptized. Harrison deals hermeneutically with 9 biblical arguments on the issue; two of which are his most important foundational chapters setting the stage for the rest of the book. He also shows the danger of shutting infants out of the kingdom of heaven, and answers all the main objections to Antipaedobaptist theology on the issue. He ends the work with a chapter on the right mode in which baptism should take place, along with a chapter on applying the truths of the study to the life of the members of the covenant community. Without sounding clichéd, this work is among the top works ever written on the subject, and in my estimation is irrefutable. The unbiased reader will have no issues with Harrison’s biblical exposition and logic driven inference. It is a powerhouse puritan work that every Paedobaptist ought to read for support, and every Antipaedobaptist ought to read to untangle their dispensational theology. Harrison says that Antipaedobaptism is “to be justly abhorred as false doctrine,” and proves this to the reader beyond a reasonable doubt. This is not a scan or facsimile, has been updated in modern English for easy reading and has an active table of contents for electronic versions.

Recasts the Reformation as a battleground over memory, in which new identities were formed through acts of commemoration, invention and repression.