Great Spoil: Thomas Manton's Spirituality of the Word

Much of evangelicalism has forsaken a Word-based approach to Christian spirituality, so to help us recover a model of biblical piety, J. Stephen Yuille examines Thomas Manton’s sermons on Psalm 119. Following a brief account of Manton as a leading Puritan committed to the ministry of the Word, Yuille leads us on a careful investigation of Manton’s understanding of blessedness, the instrumentality of God’s Word, and the practice of spiritual duties. At the foundation stands the conviction that as we love and obey God’s Word, the blessed God communes with us by His Spirit, conveying sweet influences on our soul through His Word. Manton’s spirituality of the Word is a timely remedy for the subjective mysticism that expects God to speak through inner urgings apart from His Word. Let us learn from Manton how to listen to the Bible as if we heard God speaking to us from heaven, rejoicing like those who find “great spoil” (Ps. 119:162).

Publisher: Reformation Heritage Books
Type: Paperback
ISBN: 9781601786913

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J. Stephen Yuille is the vice president of academics at Heritage College and Seminary, Cambridge, Ontario. He also serves as associate professor of biblical spirituality at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky.

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“Thomas Manton ranks as one of the greatest Puritan preachers, whose ability to apply the demands and the promises of Scripture was rooted in his conviction that Scripture is the word of God. Stephen Yuille’s important new book gets to the heart of Manton’s spirituality of the Word as the Christian’s proper response to the voice from heaven.” Crawford Gribben, professor of early modern British history, Queen’s University Belfast