The Christians Daily Walk by Henry Scudder

The Christians Daily Walk Reviews

• 
  Ronnie Nichols

  Mr. Scudder does a fantastic job of walking through the various aspects of our walk with Christ. Drenched in Scripture. Easy to read and understand. Encouraging. Uplifting. Challenging. Written for both those young in the faith and those who have been believers for years. I would highly recommend using this as a daily devotional or as am exhortation to one who finds themselves struggling in the faith. This is a great read! I'll read it again Lord willing.
• 
  Martyn

  Possibly worth five stars, at least in part. Because I'm used to reading John Angell James, who is very good on the practical side of Christianity, much of what is said here came as no great novelty, but it is still very useful for prescribing practical ways of living out our faith in the minutiae of everyday life. The problem (if it can be called a problem) is that it feels more like there are two books combined into one. There is the practical section which suits the title of 'The Christian's Daily Walk'. But the full title of the work is 'The Christian's Daily Walk in Holy Security and Peace', and while not divided into two distinct sections, the chapters in the latter half of the book focus more on the issue of Christian assurance, and what that peace is and from whence it is derived. In other words, it's about the true nature of conversion. And I think these two sections have to be treated separately.
  
  But before I say anything else, I'll just state that the edition I have read is a reprint of the 1826 edition published by William Collins in Glasgow. It has 440 pages, has forewords by Richard Baxter and John Owen, and an introductory essay by Thomas Chalmers - so it comes highly commended!
  
  The first section, dealing with the daily Christian life is excellent and it is the sort of thing every young Christian should be taught (or which every church-goer should be taught to help them to recognise the pervasive nature true Christianity, to help them recognise if their own ritualistic or minimalistic form of religion is not evidence of true faith). But in the form it is in, I think it is too much for them to take it all in effectively. The pages are packed full of good stuff within a very short space - and it should only really be taken and digested in small amounts at a time.
  
  My feeling is that this is the perfect book for Christian fathers. It would be the perfect resource if searching for things to teaching during family worship, and for training up sons in the way they should go (or for mothers to train up their daughters). But it probably shouldn't be used in its pure form - it shouldn't just be read aloud. The father/head of the house himself needs to sit down and read a portion of book and meditate on it privately beforehand. He might want to summarise it, to present key points in a more simple and memorable manner. He might want to dwell on one small section one day and go into detail, and cover more ground another day with a general overview, as he deems it appropriate or necessary.
  
  But fathers can say things to their sons in a private one-to-one conversation, and give more individual guidance, than they can do in the setting of family worship, so it would be useful for him to use this book for that purpose too, teaching his son, answering questions, sharing his own thoughts and experiences, and applying the teaching directly to his son's everyday life in the world today.
  
  As a family they might all want to say, at the end of every session of teaching, 'this is how we will modify our family lifestyle and routine to make it more conducive to applying these things in our daily lives.' The family home is generally the greatest hindrance to godly living. It is all very well for a zealous young convert to resolve to live a holy and disciplined life, but more often than not the home environment extinguishes the blaze as lack of order and routine prevents the young convert implementing rigidly his grand scheme for how he will use his time efficiently and to God's glory. Bedtimes are erratic and he cannot get into a good routine for rising early for private prayer and devotion. Even when he does make the effort, there isn't sufficient peace and quiet for him to concentrate on these things because other goings-on in the house are disturbing him. It is the responsibility of parents to provide an environment suited to the spiritual needs of their children with a regularity and routine that will allow the children to get into good habits and use their time effectively for the purposes for which they intend.
  
  With regards to the second part of the book, which will make everyone doubt of their salvation, it is probably all good, but is often just a bit overwhelming to the mind. Sometimes it felt like it kept saying the same things again and again, sometimes it felt like it was contradicting itself. But maybe I just read it too quickly and didn't meditate on it so as to really get to the heart of what each section was trying to convey. It is probably a section which I should seriously study again sometime, as it is such a vital issue for us to be able to distinguish true faith from false professions, and to be able to derive assurance in the correct way, rather than from self-deception and misconceptions.
  
  All in all, a very worthwhile book, and while written by a Puritan and jam-packed full of good stuff, it is not heavy or difficult to read as such. The language is straight-forward enough. Teenagers might be able to get along with it. But as I say, it is meant to be read slowly, and many readers might not have the patience for such slow progress, hence why it might be better in the hands of the parent who can drip-feed its teachings in moderation.
• 
  Michael J

  The first half is superb: practical advice for walking with Christ throughout an average "hum-drum" day. The second half focuses more on conquering specific fears: which felt less applicable to me. Still, an excellent book.
• 
  Timothy

  I found the first half very helpful with the practical steps on how to begin the day, how to walk with God, how to end the day.
  
  The last part on assurance was a bit drawn out and long, but it would be great as a reference when needed.
• 
  Adelina

  Loved it
• 
  Tantely

  This is worth many puritan books on practical Calvinism and covenant theology applied to the Christian's daily walk. The first part of the book deals with useful, and, sometimes, challenging directions to walk before the Lord all the days of your life. The second part is more toward the obtaining of true peace in that daily walk. This is a book any Christian, or someone inquiring about what true Christianity is about, must have on their shelve.