PARTICULAR REDEMPTION:
The End and Design of the Death of Christ
By John Hurrion
Banner of Truth. 135 pages. £7.53
ISBN 978 1 848 717 527
Particular Redemption is a compilation of sermons by John Hurrion on the end and design of the death of Christ. John Hurrion served as minister in Norfolk and London before his death in 1731. The sermons were part of the Lime Street Lectures.
In the 1690s the biblical teaching that Jesus died for the elect was being undermined. The introduction to the book by Iain Murray attributes this to Richard Baxter’s writings in previous decades. John Hurrion’s sermons were a public defence of the Bible’s teaching of particular redemption.
The book contains four sermons and a final chapter of application. The first two sermons consider the extent of Christ’s redemption. The other two address various arguments used by opponents.
The book provides a comprehensive presentation of the biblical case for particular redemption. John Hurrion does this by basing the sermons on Titus 2:14. This allows him to cohesively interrogate the subject from various angles. For example, he helpfully notes that Jesus ‘died only for whom he purchased all the means necessary to their enjoyment of salvation’. The same death of Jesus that purchases our forgiveness is the same death that purchases our faith to receive and continue enjoying our forgiveness. Salvation is a complete package.
However, the book has some limitations owing to it being a collection of sermons for a specific period. This means that at times the reader has to work extremely hard to make sense of the relevance of the point made. Like most preachers, John Hurrion is repetitive. This makes for good stand-alone but laborious sermons. The book is perhaps mostly suited to those with an avid historical interest in the time John Hurrion prepared the sermons.
