The Puritans on Spiritual Depression: A Brief Bibliography from Books At a Glance
By Fred Zaspel
Many years ago I picked up the (then new) book, The Genius of Puritanism, by Peter Lewis. It was a rather early introduction to Puritanism for me, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. One thing that struck me was the section on spiritual depression – “divine desertions” or “the dark night of the soul,” as the Puritans would describe it. Until then I had no idea the Puritans had thought so long and hard on the subject, and I found Lewis’s summary treatment of it fascinating. The book is available still from Wipf & Stock, and I highly recommend it, both as a helpful introduction to and survey of Puritanism generally and for its most helpful summary treatment of the Puritans on depression.
Below are some selections from the Puritans themselves:
- Richard Sibbes, The Soul’s Conflict and Victory over Itself by Faith
- Robert Bolton, Instruction for a Right Comforting of Afflicted Consciences
- Joseph Symonds, The Case and Cure of a Deserted Soul
- Christopher Love, The Dejected Soul’s Cure
- Thomas Goodwin, A Child of Light Walking in Darkness
- Richard Baxter, The Cure of Melancholy and Overmuch Sorrow
- Richard Baxter, The Signs & Causes of Melancholy
- William Bridge, A Lifting Up for the Downcast
- Thomas Brooks, The Mute Christian Under the Smarting Rod
And of course no bibliography on this subject would be complete without a mention of the famous later work by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression: Its Cause & Cures, a classic itself demonstrating Lloyd-Jones’ marvelous gospel-centered approach to the problem.
Depression is a very contemporary problem – you may be surprised how much help is available from our fathers in the faith.