The Marks of God's Children

First published in 1585, The Marks of God’s Children by Jean Taffin became an instant classic in Dutch and French Reformed circles. Taffin offers comfort and encouragement to those engaged in spiritual warfare. Grounded in Reformed confessional orthodoxy, this spiritual reflection provides an astute understanding of the “marks” of God’s grace and salvation that is still relevant today. Experiential Christianity at its best. Highly recommended.

Table of Contents:

1. Blessedness

- Concerning the Great and Incomprehensible Blessedness of Eternal Life Promised to God’s Children 

2. Assurance 

- How We Know that We are Children of God 

3. Appropriating the Marks 

- How Every Church Member Should Appropriate These Distinguishing Marks to Be Assured of His Adoption and Salvation 

4. Small, Weak Marks

- Although the Distinguishing Marks of Our Adoption Are Small and Weak, We May and Should Nevertheless Be Assured That We are Children of God 

5. Apostasy and Doubt 

- The Apostasy and Falling Away of Some who Once Confessed the True Religion may not Cause us to Doubt Either Doctrine or our Status as God’s Children 

6. Sufferings and the Marks

- Sufferings Should not Cause us to Doubt our Adoption but serve Rather to Strengthen Us 

7. Suffering Prophesied 

- The Sufferings We Experience Have Been Prophesied and Therefore Should Strengthen Us in the Assurance of Our Adoption as God’s Children 

8. Oppressed but Loved

- The Children of God Have Always Been Oppressed, Yet They are Continually Loved by Him

9. Fruits as Evidence

- The Sufferings so Universal among Adam’s Children are, with Regards to Their Precious Fruits, the Evidences for God’s Children of Their Adoption and for Them 

10. Suffering and Fruit

- Concerning Suffering in the Name of Christ and Its Fruit 

11. The Fruit of Persecution

- Other Fruit of the Persecutions We Suffer for the Name of Jesus Christ 

12. Perseverance in Persecution

- An Admonition to Persevere Steadfastly in the Truth of the Gospel in Times of Persecution

13. Holy Meditations and Prayers 

Prayers Drawn from Paul’s Epistles Thoughts Drawn from St. Augustine

Series Description 

Classics of Reformed Spirituality Series offers fresh translations of key writings from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, making them accessible to the twenty-first century church. These writings from the "Further Reformation" in the Netherlands offer a balance of doctrine and piety, a mingling of theology and life that has seldom been equaled in the history of Christianity. Each book in this series will provide invaluable insights into a vibrant part of the Christian heritage.