I'd like to draw your attention, if you haven't already seen it, to a new
Banner of Truth publication (even though it was previously in print through our friends at Crossway Books). It's titled
From Grief to Glory: A Book of Comfort for Grieving Parents, by James W. Bruce III.
"Truly a remarkable book" - Pastor Eric Alexander
"A tremendously helpful book" -
Nathan Williams, for Pulpit Magazine"Pure, solid-granite, Biblical truth wrapped in the warm sobs of the saints of previous generations" -
Pastor Bill MarshIndeed, that is what makes this book so unique - and, I confess, surprising to me when I read it - namely its approach to providing comfort. It is clear that the book's author approaches the subject of grief from the experience of having, he and his wife, lost a child. But unlike other books on grief and grieving, "Bruce does not attempt to share his own experience and wisdom to help other parents. Instead he reaches into the volumes of church history and extracts multitudes of stories from eminent saints who have journeyed through this lonesome valley long before our day" (Nathan Williams, Pulpit Magazine).
So, in this paperback of a couple of hundred pages, we meet and are comforted by the likes of John Bunyan, Martin Luther, Robert Dabney, Philip Melanchthon, C.H. Spurgeon, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Bradford, Hetty Wesley (sister of Charles & John Wesley), Abraham Kuyper, John Calvin, Matthew Henry, George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Selina Hastings, Lemuel Haynes, Frederick Douglas, George Muller, Fanny Crosby, John Owen, Samuel Rutherford, John Flavel, J.C. Ryle, Benjamin Morgan Palmer, John Brown, plus writings and quotations and poetry of so many others.
The reviewers are right. This book is "remarkable," "tremendously helpful," and "pure, solid-granite, Biblical truth wrapped in the warm sobs of the saints of previous generations." If you know anyone in your church or community who is traversing one of life's deep valleys, please give them a copy of this one. Even combine it with
Sharon James' biography of Elizabeth Prentiss for added encouragement and comfort from the source of all comfort!
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Forewardby Eric J. Alexander
Retired Pastor, St. George's Tron Church, Glasgow, Scotland:
"This is truly a remarkable book. Since reading it, I have often wished it had been available when I was pastoring a congregation. It is the very book I would have wanted to put into the hands of grieving parents.
"My friend Jay Bruce has written out of the deep pain Joni, his wife, and he suffered when their little boy died after only fifty-five days in this world. The book is not just an account of their pilgrimage at that harrowing time. It is also a fascinating compendium of the experience of men and women whose names are familiar even to some non-Christians - Calvin, Luther, Bunyan, Charles Wesley. These people all experienced the same tribulation and have set down their inmost thoughts and expressed their heartache.
"The book would be significant for this unique collection of quotations alone. But the spiritual insight and godly grace with which Jay Bruce writes make this volume a real treasure to own and a particular blessing to read."
Testimonials for the Book:
JONI EARECKSON TADA (Best-selling author and founder of Joni and Friends) - "There are few joys to match that which a child brings to a family. And even fewer sorrows that rival the pain of burying a child. James Bruce and his wife, Joni, knew that pain when their infant son died. They found comfort in the words of others who had known similar loss: fellow Christians such as Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon, and John Bunyan, who also wept and yet were comforted by the Father of mercies. Their intimate, emotional expressions of pain, peace, and hope - and their prevailing faith - are shared throughout these pages in both the short accounts and the eloquent poetry gathered here. If you or a loved one is walking through the valley of weeping - especially at the loss of a son or daughter - know that you are not alone, and let those who have come before remind you of your heavenly Father's sovereign grace and the mystery of joy in the midst of suffering."
JAMES MONTGOMERY BOICE (Late pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia) - "I can say, from the perspective of a pastor, that this book has significant value for ministering to Christians who have lost children. I have been moved to tears while reading it. The book is useful, among other reasons, simply in reminding us that so many of God's faithful ministers have suffered in the same way."
SUSAN HUNT (Women in the Church, Consultant, Presbyterian Church in America) - "My heart resonates with this book. It instructs and inspires. It comforts and convicts. The pages pulsate with the wisdom and hope of saints down through the ages. They comfort us with the comfort they received from God (2 Corinthians 1:4). This is as it should be."
Faith is not a faculty which fallen humanity has by nature. It cannot issue from sullied and polluted hearts. It is purely a gift of God, which he bestows solely according to the will of his grace. It lights on whom in his sovereignty he wills.
