Charles Finney Books: A Guide to All 7 and Which to Read First

Revival Evangelism Sermons Holiness Theology

Charles G. Finney (1792–1875) was a young lawyer in upstate New York when he was converted in 1821. He became the best-known revival preacher of his day, then a pastor in New York City, and for the rest of his life a teacher and later president at Oberlin College in Ohio. He preached like a lawyer arguing a case: plain words, close reasoning, and a demand for a verdict now. For his life story, see who was Charles Finney.

TheWay Library has seven of his books, all free to read. Here is what each one covers and where to begin.

Where to start

Start with the Memoirs of Rev. Charles G. Finney. It's his own story of his conversion and the revivals, and it shows you the man before you read his arguments. Then read Lectures on Revivals of Religion, the book that made his teaching known around the world.

After that, choose by what you want:

To hear him preach: Sermons on Gospel Themes or Sermons on the Way of Salvation.
To test your own heart: Lectures to Professing Christians.
On holiness: Guide to the Saviour, then the sanctification lectures in his Systematic Theology.
His full theology: Lectures on Systematic Theology.

For some of his best-known lines, see our Charles Finney quotes.

His life

Memoirs of Rev. Charles G. Finney

Finney wrote this late in life to explain the revivals his name was tied to, and it came out after his death. He tells of his law studies in Adams, New York, his struggle in the woods, his conversion and the baptism of the Holy Spirit that followed it the same day. Then he traces the revivals town by town: the small settlements of Jefferson County, the towns of Oneida County, then Philadelphia, New York, the great Rochester revival of 1830, Boston, Oberlin and two visits to Britain. Along the way he gives his views on preaching, prayer and training ministers.

For a guide, see our Memoirs of Charles Finney summary and the story of Charles Finney's conversion. Read the Memoirs.

On revival

Lectures on Revivals of Religion

Finney gave these lectures week by week to his New York congregation, and they were published in 1835. He begins with what a revival is, when one may be expected, and how to promote one, starting with breaking up the fallow ground of the heart. Five lectures in a row are on prayer: prevailing prayer, the prayer of faith, the spirit of prayer, being filled with the Spirit and prayer meetings. Others teach how to win souls, how to preach, how churches can help their ministers, what hinders revival, and how to care for young converts and backsliders. He also defends the "new measures" his critics attacked, such as protracted meetings and the anxious seat.

There is reason to believe millions are in hell because professors have not offered the prayer of faith.
Lectures on Revivals of Religion, Lecture V: The Prayer of Faith

It's still one of the most quoted books on revival ever written. See where it sits among the other classics in our list of the best Christian books on revival. Read Lectures on Revivals of Religion.

Sermons

Sermons on Gospel Themes

Twenty-four sermons on the great themes of his revival preaching: God's love for a world in rebellion, the wages of sin, the look of faith, the sinner's excuses and "refuges of lies," the conditions of being saved, the atonement, and quenching the Spirit. The last sermons turn to believers: praying and laboring for the harvest, winning souls as a Christian duty, victory over the world and death to sin. If you want to know how Finney reasoned with a crowd, read this one.

We must look to Christ for blessings promised, not to works, but to faith.
Sermons on Gospel Themes, chapter 4

Read Sermons on Gospel Themes.

Sermons on the Way of Salvation

Twenty-five sermons, published in 1891, that follow the way of salvation from conviction to holy living. The first half presses the sinner's guilt and danger: guilt measured by light, the self-hardening sinner, the loss of a soul and God's anger against the wicked. The second half teaches the Christian life: believing with the heart, being holy, self-denial, following Christ, and four sermons on prayer, including the conditions of prevailing prayer and prayer for the Holy Spirit.

Consequently Christians are often called on to believe God, not only without, but against, present evidence.
Sermons on the Way of Salvation, chapter XVII: On Believing with the Heart

Read Sermons on the Way of Salvation.

On the Christian life and holiness

Lectures to Professing Christians

Twenty-five searching lectures to church members, asking whether their religion is real. Finney exposes self-deceivers who hear but don't do, religion run by public opinion, and legal religion that serves God from fear or for pay. He contrasts true and false repentance and conversion, then turns to justification and sanctification by faith, Christian perfection, and love as the whole of religion. It reads like a long examination of conscience. Take it slowly.

You are bound to know whether you love the Lord Jesus Christ or not.
Lectures to Professing Christians, Lecture XI

Read Lectures to Professing Christians.

Guide to the Saviour

Six short lectures on how a believer comes to holiness, taken from the sanctification section of his Systematic Theology and printed as a small book. Finney clears away false roads first: holiness doesn't come by waiting, by works of law, or by resolutions in our own strength. It comes by faith that receives Christ, revealed by the Spirit, in each of His relations to us: as Lord, Saviour from sin, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption.

The Holy Spirit reveals and introduces Christ to the soul, and the soul to Christ.
Guide to the Saviour, chapter IV

It's the gentlest way into Finney's teaching on holiness. Read Guide to the Saviour.

His theology

Lectures on Systematic Theology

The lectures Finney gave to theology students at Oberlin, here in a revised English edition. They're built on the idea of moral law and God's moral government. He argues that duty rests on ability, that all virtue is love or benevolence and all sin is selfishness. From there he treats the atonement, regeneration, repentance, faith and justification, six lectures arguing for entire sanctification in this life, and election and the perseverance of the saints. This is the longest and hardest of his books. Read it to understand what he believed, after you've met him in the Memoirs and the sermons. Read Lectures on Systematic Theology.

A note on these editions

Lectures to Professing Christians was restored from a scan and has frequent misread words, especially at the start of each lecture. The Memoirs, Sermons on Gospel Themes and Lectures on Revivals of Religion also have scattered errors from scanning. The text is being proofread.

Why read Finney today

Finney believed that God moves when His people repent and pray, and that sinners should be told plainly to turn to God now. His books will press you to take your own soul seriously and to pray for others with real faith.

Begin with the Memoirs, then go to Lectures on Revivals of Religion. All seven books are on the Charles G. Finney author page, and more books like his are under Revival.