Call to the Unconverted to Turn and Live

This 17th century Puritan devotional became wildly popular even after only a year following its publication. In some ways, the book’s popularity was somewhat of an anomaly. A myriad of new Puritan devotional books became available in bookshops every year, and Baxter’s book contained a standard exposition of the New Testament narrative. Baxter’s style, however, gripped people and urged them to share his book with others. In contrast to other contemporaneous Puritan devotionals, Baxter’s approach of communicating to his readers was a personal one. He addressed them as “you” rather than with such generic terms as “people” or “Christians;” he used a pastoral tone rather than a preachy one. A century later, George Whitefield, the great Methodist evangelist, would cite Baxter’s Call to the Unconverted as one of the most refreshing pieces of Christian discourse from the recent past.

Kathleen O’Bannon
CCEL Staff