My appreciation for the Puritans seems to grow every
year. A couple of things moved me toward
my interaction with the Puritans; one was a person and the other was book. The person was a retired pastor, Ernie
Jolley, and the other was a book that he gave to me. It was written by Ralph Turnbull, The Minister’s Opportunities, which had
a chapter about the priority of study and another on the minister’s library. In those chapters, Turnbull really stressed
finding out who the Puritans were and to begin to read after them. I took Brother Jolley’s advice and started
reading his recommendation of William Gurnall’s massive work, The Christian in Complete Armor, and I
took a chance at what Ralph Turnbull recommended with Thomas Brooks’ Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices.
