Gardiner Spring Books: A Guide to All 14 and Where to Start
Christian LifePrayerPreachingApologetics
Gardiner Spring (1785–1873) pastored the Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City for sixty-three years, and he wrote books all through that long ministry. TheWay Library has fourteen of them, all free to read: two on the Christian life and the cross, two volumes each of First Things and The Glory of Christ, one on prayer and one on sorrow, three from his work as a preacher, two defending the Bible, and a missionary biography. For his life story, see who was Gardiner Spring.
This guide sorts them so you can find the one you need.
Where to start
If you're new to Spring, start with Essays on the Distinguishing Traits of Christian Character. It's his best-known book and still his most useful. Then read The Attraction of the Cross, which turns you from examining yourself to looking at Christ.
After that, choose by what you want:
- Help with prayer: The Mercy Seat.
- Comfort in grief: The Mission of Sorrow.
- The opening chapters of Genesis: First Things.
- A long look at Christ Himself: The Glory of Christ.
- Help as a preacher, or for praying for your pastor: The Power of the Pulpit.
- Reasons to trust the Bible: The Bible Not of Man, then The Obligations of the World to the Bible.
- A missionary story: Memoirs of the Rev. Samuel J. Mills.
Every quotation below is checked against the book it comes from. For many more, see our collection of Gardiner Spring quotes.
The Christian life and the cross
Essays on the Distinguishing Traits of Christian Character (1822)
Fifteen essays on how to tell true Christian character from false. The first five clear away false grounds of hope: good morals, a form of religion, head knowledge, conviction of sin and a confident feeling that all is well. The other ten describe the real marks of grace: love to God for His own sake, repentance, faith, humility, self-denial, prayer, love to other believers, separation from the world, growth in grace and practical obedience. Each essay ends with questions for the reader.
It is true, that in the course of God's providence, conviction always precedes conversion; but it is not always true, that conversion follows conviction.
Essays on the Distinguishing Traits of Christian Character, Conviction of Sin
Our copy was restored from an old scan, so you'll find an occasional misread letter. Start with the Introduction and the essay on Love to God. Read the Essays.
The Attraction of the Cross (1845)
Twenty-three chapters built on Christ's words, "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." Spring tells the story of the cross, shows it to be the only propitiation for sin and open to everyone, and explains justification and faith. Then he gives plain counsel to someone who is seeking: the greatness of your sin is no barrier, the cross is the source of holiness, and it is the ground of full assurance. The last chapters show the cross as the test of character and the great sin of rejecting it.
His salvation does not rest upon himself, but upon the all-sufficient God.
The Attraction of the Cross, Full Assurance of Hope at the Cross
If you're afraid your sin is too great, read the chapter on the greatness of sin first. Read The Attraction of the Cross.
Prayer and sorrow
The Mercy Seat: Thoughts Suggested by the Lord's Prayer (1850)
Two chapters on prayer in general and on what the Bible teaches about how to pray, then a walk through the Lord's Prayer. Spring treats God as Father, the hallowing of His name, the coming of His kingdom and the work of missions, and doing His will. "Daily bread" leads to a chapter called "Prayer and Pains," on why prayer doesn't replace work. Three chapters on forgiveness follow, then temptation, the dread of sin and the closing doxology.
On every page of the Bible there is matter for prayer; and he who would pray with intelligence and with fervor, must study his Bible.
The Mercy Seat, The Instructions of the Bible as to the Matter and Manner of Prayer
The Mission of Sorrow (1863)
A short book of comfort, written during the Civil War when, as Spring says, sorrows were sweeping over the land. In nine chapters he shows what sorrow is sent to do: bear witness to God, teach submission, loosen our hold on idols, strengthen faith and patience, drive us to the Bible and to prayer, and make us ready for heaven, where there is no sorrow.
Natural affections were given us that we might weep ourselves, and weep with them that weep.
The Mission of Sorrow, Chapter III: Submission Under Sorrow
Our copy comes from an uncorrected scan, and closing quotation marks often show up as stray numbers. Read The Mission of Sorrow.
First Things and The Glory of Christ
In the early 1850s Spring wrote two linked works of two volumes each. First Things studies the "firsts" of the early Bible; The Glory of Christ was meant as its sequel.
- First Things, Volume 1: God, creation, Adam, the unity of the human race, Eve and the first marriage, the first Sabbath, the fall of the angels, the tempter, man's first sin and the first gospel promise. He defends Genesis as true history: "If it be a fable, Christianity itself is fabulous."
- First Things, Volume 2: Cain as the first deist and Abel's acceptance by grace, the first murder, Enoch's walk with God, the Spirit that will not always strive, Jacob at Bethel and Peniel, and Korah's rebellion. The chapter on Enoch is the one to read first.
- The Glory of Christ, Volume 1: Christ's glory in His person and earthly life, from His divine nature and incarnation through His preaching, miracles, transfiguration and humiliation to His resurrection and ascension.
- The Glory of Christ, Volume 2: Christ's glory after the ascension, in the work of the Spirit, in His people, in a coming millennial reign, as Judge, and as the light of heaven.
God out of Christ, is nature, is reason; God in Christ is Christianity.
The Glory of Christ, Volume 1, Chapter I: The Pre-eminence of Christ as the Principal Subject of Supernatural Revelation
Both volumes of The Glory of Christ come from uncorrected scans with broken hyphens and misread words, so they read roughly. First Things is cleaner.
Preaching and pastoral writings
The Power of the Pulpit (1848)
Spring's book on why preaching matters. He first shows from history that the pulpit has power, then traces where that power comes from: the truth it carries, a living preacher rather than a printed page, the authority God gives the ministry, and the Holy Spirit. Chapters on prayer, personal holiness and example press on the preacher's own life. The last part speaks to congregations: how to find, train, support and pray for their ministers, and what they owe for the preaching they hear.
It is the truth which affects us, but it is the Spirit of God which causes us to receive the truth.
The Power of the Pulpit, The Pulpit Associated with the Power of God
Pastors should read the chapters on prayer and personal piety. Church members will get the most from prayer for ministers. Read The Power of the Pulpit.
The Bethel Flag: Short Discourses to Seamen (1848)
A book of worship for ships at sea, far from any church: prayers for a Lord's Day service on deck, twenty-six short, plain gospel sermons for sailors, and a service for burial at sea. The sermons call seamen to Christ, the Sinner's Friend, to true repentance and to trust in God through storm and death. One is written for the Sunday after a shipmate has been buried in the deep. Read The Bethel Flag.
Fragments from the Study of a Pastor (1838)
Seven shorter pieces Spring wrote outside his weekly sermons: a scene among the persecuted Vaudois in the Alps, thoughts for the New Year, an account of an inquiry meeting during a New England revival, a letter to a discouraged young minister, and essays on false happiness, nearness to God and the useful Christian. It's the lightest book here and a quick read. Read Fragments from the Study of a Pastor.
The Bible
The Bible Not of Man (1847)
An argument that the Bible is the work of God, drawn mostly from the Bible itself. After an opening essay on why God sent Christ when He did, Spring argues from the Bible's greatness of thought, its holy spirit, its moral law, its doctrines, the religion it produces, its unity across many writers and centuries, how exactly it fits human need, the experience of believers, and its agreement with sound reason. It's a good book for a thoughtful young person with questions.
Believing the truth, loving the truth, and walking in the truth, constitute one religion.
The Bible Not of Man, The Unity of the Scriptures
The Obligations of the World to the Bible (1839)
Fourteen lectures on what the world owes to Scripture: language and letters, great literature, wise law, civil and religious liberty, morals, marriage and family, the Sabbath and human happiness. One lecture takes on slavery directly and condemns it. The book shows how a leading American pastor saw the Bible's place in public life a generation before the Civil War.
Our belief of it does not make it true, nor does our unbelief of it make it false.
The Obligations of the World to the Bible, The Influence of the Bible on the Extent and Certainty of Moral Science
Read The Obligations of the World to the Bible.
Biography
Memoirs of the Rev. Samuel J. Mills (1820)
The life of Samuel J. Mills, the young man who did much to start American foreign missions. Spring follows him from his conversion and student zeal through the founding of the American Board, his friendship with the Hawaiian student Obookiah, long tours of the American West and South where he found families without Bibles, and his voyage to West Africa. Mills died at sea on the way home, and Spring closes with a sketch of his character. This copy also comes from an uncorrected scan and has scattered misread words.
Simply to become a Missionary himself, and live and die in Pagan lands, surrounded with all the evidences of successful labour, was with him a very small matter.
Memoirs of the Rev. Samuel J. Mills, His Education, and Early Devotion to the Missionary Cause
Spring meant that Mills wanted to rouse a whole church to send others, not only to go himself. Read the Memoirs of Samuel J. Mills.
Why read Spring today
Spring asks the most important question a church member can ask, whether my hope is real, and he answers it honestly from the Bible. Then he points you to Christ. Begin with the Essays, go on to The Attraction of the Cross, and keep The Mercy Seat near for your prayers. For other books on the same question, see the best Christian books on assurance. All fourteen books are on the Gardiner Spring author page.