Classics library
Books kept inside Aide (the Library) are marked below. Older books by teachers of the faith, free to read at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. These books are in the public domain in the United States. Copyright terms differ in other countries. Aide links to CCEL, which hosts them; it does not copy them. Listing an author is not an endorsement of everything they wrote. Read each in light of Scripture, and see the tradition shown beside the name.
Devotion and prayer
Books to read slowly, a page at a time, to pray with the Scriptures open.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon 1834–1892 · Baptist, Reformed
London's best-known Victorian preacher. Warm, plain-spoken, and always coming back to Christ.
Morning and Evening (1866) ↗ · Faith's Checkbook (1893) ↗ · Sermons, The Treasury of David, Lectures to My Students · All books by Spurgeon ↗
Oswald Chambers 1874–1917 · Evangelical, Baptist background
Scottish teacher and YMCA chaplain. His wife gathered his talks into My Utmost for His Highest.
Read the 1927 text. Modern editions of the same book are often revised and still protected.
My Utmost for His Highest · All books by Chambers ↗
Lettie B. Cowman 1870–1960 · Evangelical, holiness missions
A missionary to Japan. She compiled Streams in the Desert for people walking through hard seasons.
The 1925 edition is public domain in the United States. She died in 1960, so some countries still protect it.
Streams in the Desert · All books by Cowman ↗
Andrew Murray 1828–1917 · Dutch Reformed
South African pastor and teacher on prayer and abiding in Christ.
With Christ in the School of Prayer (1885) · Abide in Christ · All books by Murray ↗
E. M. Bounds 1835–1913 · Methodist
A pastor and Civil War chaplain who wrote almost only about prayer.
F. B. Meyer 1847–1929 · Baptist, Keswick
English pastor and writer, known for devotional studies of Bible lives.
Devotional books and Bible character studies · All books by Meyer ↗
Hannah Whitall Smith 1832–1911 · Quaker, holiness (Keswick)
Her book on trusting God daily has been in print since 1875.
She wrote from the Higher Life movement. Many traditions take issue with its view of sanctification.
The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life (1875) ↗ · All books by Smith ↗
Brother Lawrence 1614–1691 · Roman Catholic (Carmelite)
A lay brother in a Paris monastery kitchen, who learned to meet God in ordinary work.
The Practice of the Presence of God · All books by Lawrence ↗
Thomas à Kempis c. 1380–1471 · Roman Catholic
A medieval Dutch monk. The Imitation of Christ has been read for six hundred years.
Preaching and commentary
Teachers who stay with the text and then show you Christ in it.
Matthew Henry 1662–1714 · English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)
His one-volume Concise Commentary and the full Commentary on the Whole Bible have been loved for three centuries.
Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710) ↗ · All books by Henry ↗
Alexander Maclaren 1826–1910 · Baptist
Manchester preacher. Called the prince of expositors for his sermons through whole books of the Bible.
Expositions of Holy Scripture · All books by Maclaren ↗
J. C. Ryle 1816–1900 · Anglican (Evangelical)
First Bishop of Liverpool. His Expository Thoughts on the Gospels are clear, direct, and short.
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels · Holiness · All books by Ryle ↗
G. Campbell Morgan 1863–1945 · Congregational
English preacher and Bible teacher at Westminster Chapel.
His earlier works (1930 and before) are public domain in the United States. Later ones are not.
Bible studies and expositions · All books by Morgan ↗
Doctrine and theology
The great statements of what Christians believe and why.
Athanasius of Alexandria c. 296–373 · Early church
Defended the full deity of Christ at and after Nicaea. On the Incarnation is the best short book on why God became man.
On the Incarnation · All books by Alexandria ↗
Augustine of Hippo 354–430 · Early church (Latin West)
North African bishop. Confessions is his own story of coming to Christ.
Confessions ↗ · The City of God · All books by Hippo ↗
Martin Luther 1483–1546 · Lutheran
The German reformer. The Bondage of the Will is his answer to Erasmus on human freedom and grace.
The Bondage of the Will ↗ · Commentary on Galatians · All books by Luther ↗
John Calvin 1509–1564 · Reformed
Genevan reformer. The Institutes is the foundation of Reformed theology, and his commentaries cover most of the Bible.
Institutes of the Christian Religion (1559) ↗ · Commentaries · All books by Calvin ↗
John Owen 1616–1683 · Puritan (Congregational)
Oxford theologian. Dense but deep on the Trinity, communion with God, and sin.
On the Mortification of Sin; Communion with God · All books by Owen ↗
Jonathan Edwards 1703–1758 · Congregational (Reformed)
New England pastor and thinker at the Great Awakening.
Sermons, Religious Affections · All books by Edwards ↗
Charles Hodge 1797–1878 · Presbyterian (Princeton)
His Systematic Theology is a standard account of Reformed doctrine in English.
Systematic Theology · All books by Hodge ↗
B. B. Warfield 1851–1921 · Presbyterian (Princeton)
Defender of the full authority of Scripture and the deity of Christ.
The Person and Work of Christ · All books by Warfield ↗
Abraham Kuyper 1837–1920 · Dutch Reformed
Theologian and Dutch prime minister. Argued that Christ is Lord over every part of life.
Lectures on Calvinism · All books by Kuyper ↗
Puritans and revival preachers
Pastors who preached for conversion and a holy life.
John Bunyan 1628–1688 · Baptist (Puritan)
A tinker jailed for preaching without a licence. He wrote Pilgrim's Progress in prison.
The Pilgrim's Progress (1678) ↗ · Grace Abounding · All books by Bunyan ↗
Richard Baxter 1615–1691 · Puritan (Nonconformist)
A pastor in Kidderminster. The Reformed Pastor is still a handbook for ministers.
The Reformed Pastor; The Saints' Everlasting Rest · All books by Baxter ↗
John Wesley 1703–1791 · Anglican, founder of Methodism
Preacher and organiser of the Methodist revival. His forty-four standard sermons are the heart of his teaching.
Sermons; Journal; A Plain Account of Christian Perfection · All books by Wesley ↗
George Whitefield 1714–1770 · Anglican, Calvinistic Methodist
The great preacher of the eighteenth-century awakening on both sides of the Atlantic.
Sermons and journals · All books by Whitefield ↗
Charles G. Finney 1792–1875 · Presbyterian, then Congregational
American revivalist. His Autobiography is the best way into his work.
Many traditions, especially Reformed ones, disagree with his teaching on the atonement and sanctification.
Autobiography; Lectures on Revivals of Religion · All books by Finney ↗
Dwight L. Moody 1837–1899 · Evangelical
American evangelist who preached to millions and founded schools and the Moody Church.
Sermons and talks · All books by Moody ↗
R. A. Torrey 1856–1928 · Evangelical
Moody's successor. Wrote clearly on Bible study, prayer, and the work of the Holy Spirit.
How to Study the Bible; How to Pray · All books by Torrey ↗
Church history
How the church has told its own story.
Eusebius of Caesarea c. 260–339 · Early church
Wrote the first history of the church, from the apostles to Constantine. Much of what we know of the early centuries comes from him.
Ecclesiastical History · All books by Caesarea ↗
Philip Schaff 1819–1893 · Reformed (Mercersburg)
His History of the Christian Church and the Ante-Nicene and Nicene Fathers series put the early church in English.
John Foxe 1516–1587 · English Protestant
Book of Martyrs records the sufferings of Christians, with a Reformation viewpoint.
It is a Protestant work written to argue a case. Historians have corrected some of its details.