The Systematic Theology of John Brown Of Haddington

by John Brown of Haddington, Joel R. Beeke, Randall J. Peterson (Introduction)

John Brown (1722-1787) of Haddington was the leading minister in the Associate Synod during the formative years of eighteenth-century Scotland. He was a devout Christian, a gifted preacher, and a prolific writer of theology. He began life in obscure poverty, without advantage of wealth, position, title, or education. Yet God favored him with unusal gifts and an enormous capacity for hard work.

Brown taught himself Greek while working in the fields; he became a man of deep spiritual experience with sill in preaching the doctrines of free grace and peity. His last words, "my Christ," summarize his life and thought.

A new twenty-page introduction on the life and writings of John Brown is provided by Joel R. Beeke and Randall J. Pederson.

Genres: Theology, Christian, History

628 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

John Brown of Haddington (1722-1787), was a Scottish divine and author.

Publications include:
A Help for the Ignorant (1758);
An Essay Towards an Easy, Plain, Practical, and Extensive Explication of the Assembly's Shorter Catechism (1758);
A Brief Dissertation on Christ's Righteousness, Showing to What Extent it is Imputed to Us in Justification (1759);
Two Short Catechisms Mutually Connected (1764);
The Christian Journal (1765);
An Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Secession (1766);
Letters on the Constitution, Government, and Discipline of the Christian Church (1767);
Sacred Tropology (1768);
A Dictionary of the Holy Bible (1769);
Religious Steadfastness Recommended (1769);
A General History of the Christian Church (1771);
The Self-interpreting Bible (1778);
The Absurdity and Perfidy of All Authoritative Toleration of Gross Heresy, Blasphemy, Idolatry, Popery, in Britain (1780);
The Duty of Raising up Spiritual Children to Christ (1780);
The Fearful Shame and Contempt of Mere Professed Christians, Who Neglect to Raise Up Spiritual Children to Jesus Christ (1780);
An Evangelical and Practical View of the Types and Figures of the Old Testament Dispensation (1781);
The Christian, the Student, and the Pastor, Exemplified in the Lives of Nine Eminent Ministers (1782)
The Young Christian Exemplified (1782);
A Compendious View of Natural and Revealed Religion (1782);
The Necessity and Advantage of Earnest Prayer for the Lord’s Special Direction in the Choice of Pastors (1783);
Practical Piety exemplified in the Lives of Thirteen Eminent Christians (1783);
A Compendious History of the British Churches (1784);
A Harmony of Scripture Prophecies and History of Their Fulfillment (1784);
Thoughts on the Travelling of the Mail on the Lord's Day (1785);
An Apology for a More Frequent Administration of the Lord’s Supper; with Answers to Objections (1804);
The Re-Exhibition of the Testimony Defended;
Devout Breathings of a Pious Soul;
The Necessity, Seriousness, and Sweetness of Practical Religion, in an Awakening Call, by Samuel Corbyn;
Address to Students of Divinity;
A Brief Concordance to the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments;
An Introduction to the Right Understanding of the Oracles of God;
The Posthumous Works of the late Rev. Mr. John Brown, Minister of the Gospel at Haddington;
Select Remains of the Rev. John Brown;
A Short Catechism for Young Children

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best, most practical systematic theologies that I have read thus far. It is also nice to read an ST by one committed to the Westminster Confession's view of church-state relations, rather than the Voluntaryist opinions of most contemporary Reformed writers.

[G Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rare gem in reformed theology. Fair warning though, this is not a conventional or modern day Systematic Theology. The format, structure and theological method differ noteworthily so. The original title (pre Beeke getting his hands on it and making it palatable) was A Compendious View of Natural and Revealed Religion... Anyway, this text is absolutely saturated with Scripture... A lot of times, done in a poor "proof-texting" fashion, that is, often times he points you to a passage (or twelve!) without exegeting it (or them), but still, there is a indescribable humility and warmth that oozes from the pages is warming to the heart and it helps promote genuine awe and worship of the God-Man whom we worship. The other stand out of this volume is that while it falls prey to many of the theological errors of that tradition and from that era, it still tries very hard (and does a fairly good job) at using biblical (i.e. not western or christian) language. And this gives it additional pastoral warmth. Beyond this, his goal is to make all the truth "experimental" or existentially real... that is, all the truth he discusses, he tries to make applicable to day to day living.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book would serve well as text book. The only draw back to it is the countless Scripture references (e.g., Prov. 7:21; John 8:6; Rom. 2:3; Phil. 2:4) strewn across nearly every line of the text. Don't get me wrong: This is the most Scripturally-based systematic theology I have ever seen. The problem is one of formatting. If all of the references were at the bottom of the page, even written out in full, this would be a massive improvement. A teacher could definitely use this as a text book and have print-outs of all of the Scripture references handy to refer to during the lesson. In all, this is a fantastic work. It is a systematic theology presented in the framework of covenant theology. The section on election and reprobation is gold.