the works of john gill vol2 SAMPLE

General Preface
would fall off. The doctor said, 'I can afford to be poor, but I cannot
afford to injure my conscience;' and he has left his mantle as well as
his chair in our vestry." 12
While Gill wrote prolifically on many practical and doctrinal subjects,
today he is perhaps best known for his commentary on the whole
Bible, which remains in popular use today. 13 This massive undertaking
took Gill roughly twenty-two years to complete, from 1746 to 1768,
and when completed the work filled ten thousand pages in a total of
seven folio volumes in small print. In 1748, at the age of 51, after his
completion of the New Testament commentary portion, Gill was
awarded a Doctor of Divinity by the University of Aberdeen, who
among other things, recognized Gill’s rabbinical scholarship.
The continued demand for Gill’s Commentary and other published
works is perhaps best understood in the words of J. C. Philpot (1802–
1869) in his review of Gill’s ‘Solomon’s Song’: 14
As an expositor of Scripture, Gill shines with unrivaled luster. John
Owen’s Commentary on Hebrews is probably the deepest and greatest
ever given to the church, but Gill is more readable, more concise and
pregnant, more lively and animated than Owen; if he did not dig so
deeply in the mines of heavenly truth nor turn up such massive ore,
yet is there dust of gold in all that he lays bare and brings to the light
of day. Both Owen and Gill were Masters in Israel, both eminent for
natural abilities and acquired learning, both good and great men whose
works praise them in the gates and whom successive generations rise
up and call blessed. 15
Since their original publication, many of Gill’s works have thankfully
survived, largely due to the efforts of David Alfred Doudney (1811–
12 C. H. Spurgeon, Autobiography, Revised ed., edited by Susannah Spurgeon and
Joseph Harrald (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1973), 2:477.
13 This was the first commentary ever produced by a single author on the entire New
Testament.
14 To learn more about Joseph Philpot, consult J. H. Philpot, The Seceders: the Story of
J. C. Philpot and William Tiptaft, Reprint ed. (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1961).
15 J. C. Philpot, “Review of An Expositions of the Books of Solomon’s Songs,
Commonly Called Canticles.” Gospel Standard Reviews 1 (1901).
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