Another in the category of “Great Books” is a compendium of Puritan prayers gathered and organized by Arthur Bennett titled The Valley of Vision:

The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions

Arthur Bennett [first published in 1975 from prayers and devotions published by various Puritan authors dating back to the 16th and 17 Centuries]

[The Valley of Vision Book] Endorsements

‘When used slowly, for meditation and prayer, these pages have often been used by God’s Spirit to kindle my dry heart.’ — MARK DEVER

‘The prayers in The Valley of Vision are steeped in Scripture, yet never succumb to mere formula. They are theologically fresh and vibrant, yet they are rooted in confessionalism. They range over a huge sweep of Christian experience and devotion, but they are never merely esoteric or cute. They brim with deep emotion and transparent passion, but they carefully avoid mere sentimentalism. This is a book that teaches readers to pray by example.’ — D. A. CARSON

‘The Valley of Vision is a wonderful collection of Puritan prayers which both help to shape and inform our own private devotions and, perhaps more importantly, aid pastors as they seek to lead their congregations in prayer and into the presence of God.’ — CARL TRUEMAN

‘I cannot commend enough The Valley of Vision, which is a compilation of over two-hundred pages of Puritan prayers (each of which are one page in length). I pray through one of these prayers every day. Sometimes the prayers are so meaningful and relevant that I will pray through the same prayer for days. This is a wonderful aid to supplement one’s own prayers. Indeed, these prayers will also teach one how to pray, and, at the same time, they teach theological truth. I cannot think of any Christian who would not benefit from these prayers.’ — GREG BEALE

‘It’s amazing how frequently the prayers from the little book The Valley of Vision show up in our worship services. The Valley of Vision is a collection of Puritan prayers, and I would put them in that category. That is, they are thoughtful, reflective, and meditative. They’re even written in a certain kind of cadence, if you’ve ever noticed, which is probably very intentional, so that they might be used in corporate settings. But they came out of a deep heart of communion with God.’ — JOHN PIPER

[Valley of Vision] Book Description

The strength of Puritan character and life lay in prayer and meditation. In this practice the spirit of prayer was regarded as of first importance and the best form of prayer, for living prayer is the characteristic of genuine spirituality. Yet prayer is also vocal and may therefore on occasions be written. Consequently in the Puritan tradition there are many written prayers and meditations which constitute an important corpus of inspiring devotional literature. Too often ex tempore prayer lacks variety, order and definiteness. The reason for this lies partly in a neglect of due preparation. It is here that the care and scriptural thoroughness which others found necessary in their approach to God may be of help. This book has been prepared not to ‘supply’ prayers but to prompt and encourage the Christian as he treads the path on which others have gone before. The author was a Canon of St. Albans Cathedral, sometime Rector of Little Munden and Sacombe, Hertfordshire, and was for seventeen years a tutor in Biblical Theology and Christian Doctrine at All Nations Christian College. He died in October 1994 aged 79.

PREMIUM GOATSKIN and GENUINE LEATHER EDITIONS

The Genuine Leather Gift Edition comes with a Genuine Leather cover, and a single ribbon marker. It has a Smyth Sewn binding, and comes in a protective case. This edition is a nice step up from the bonded leather edition.

The Premium Goatskin Gift Edition is our top-of-the-line, hand-finished edition, with a goatskin leather cover, gilded filigree edging, and two ribbon markers. It has a Smyth Sewn binding, and comes in a protective case. This edition is noticeably more supple than the Genuine Leather.

https://banneroftruth.org/us/store/devotional-books/the-valley-of-vision/
Written description by Ligon Duncan, [with certain additions I’ve added in brackets].

This book, Valley of Vision (VoV), is a treasure of meditative prayers on many dimensions of the Christian faith-walk. It is highly recommended reading either in the beautifully bound forms or as an online pdf through the Banner of Truth.

Gleanings from Special Phrases (‘Jewels of Thought / Expression’)

As discussed in a companion website–www.kaistudies.net–word groups known as phrases / clauses are expository building blocks, intermediate between individual words and sentences (whole thoughts).

The Bible itself is filled with many thousands of such phrases. We often skip over them because they are not whole sentences. Whole sentences are typically known to us by a chapter:verse identification, though there is not always a one-to-one correspondence between verses and sentences (sometimes a verse has multiple sentences and other times a sentence runs over multiple verse numbers). In fact, we typically advertise ‘Biblical preaching’ as “verse-by-verse.”

Beneath phrases are of course individual words, such as “Faith,” or word pairs, such as “The Faith.” These, like verses, often receive deserved expository treatment.

Phrases, however, can be easily overlooked as our reading or a proclamation slides from consideration of certain key words in a sentence to consideration of the sentence as a whole. It the companion website focused on the Koine Greek language of the NT and Septuagint, we are giving by example how proper consideration of various Biblical phrases is a worthy object of study as its own thing, but also because phrases bridge the individual words into the whole thought of a sentence.

This can be most important because the nature of individual words is that they have a semantic range of meaning. Consider for example the English word “run.” As the word is found in a sentence we must map the grouping of letters “r-u-n” into an image in our mind as to its meaning. The possible semantic range for this word “run” is extensive. Is it the sense of “run” as one would do in a track meet, or in training, or simply hurrying along? And if so, how fast is “run?” A marathon run is very different from a 100 yard or quarter-mile “run.” Consider the word “run” as used: “I have to run” (where it means something like “to go”). Then there is a “run” in reference to a garment’s losing fabric integrity. And in baseball season there are “home runs” and “runs scored.” Then some folks “run” on in their speech (or, alas, their writing). Then there are questions regarding old, beat-up cars: “is this thing going to run?” where we are asking whether its engine will start and usefully propel the car.

Our minds in milliseconds process the word “run” to a mapped meaning within such broad semantic range. If the context is a track meet, or the training for a meet, we understand there is some ambiguity as to the intensity / speed at which we should envision such “run” but we’ve narrowed it’s possible meaning down considerably. Then we might conclude, again from the context, that the particulars of speed / intensity are not relevant to the whole thought of the sentence so we do not attempt to process it further. But in another context, such tryouts for a football team a small relative difference in speed can make or break a candidate’s acceptance.

Phrases can play a key role in such semantic range consideration and they do so in multiple ways. One of the ways is that a key word–such as “run” in our present example–can be embedded in one or more phrases that flow into the sentence as a whole that provides us the nuance of its relative meaning and even importance.

Not all phrases are of equal importance. In the context of Scripture, or course every phrase, like every word, and even “jot and tittle,” has meaning. But there are whole thoughts, and likewise phrases and words, that carry greater gravitas than others: “Thou are The Christ, The Son of The Living God,” Matthew 16:16, is an explosively significant declaration at (1) the level of each individual word–“Christ,” “Son,” “Living,” “God”–and (2) at the view of a phrase–“The Son of the Living God”–and (3) at the level of the sentence / verse as the whole thought, and even (4) beyond the sentence to the paragraph / pericope (Matthew 16:13-20), and (5) the closing of the entire drama of the Incarnation to the Cross and Resurrection (Matthew Ch 16 though Ch 28, beginning from the rejection of Jesus as Messiah, as even sent from God, by the authorities of The Religion Industry (TRI) of that time).

So, phrases are worth scrutiny as a matter of grasping the Word of God. And some phrases–herein “Jewel Phrases”–are particularly worthy.

The Valley of Vision (VoV) is an example source of Jewel Phrases, though of course they do not carry the weight of Scripture. But let us hear example such Phrases from one of the prayer-meditations assembled by Mr. Bennett.

Jewel Phrases from “Things Needful” in VoV

One of the meditations in Arthur Bennett’s compilation is entitled “Things Needful.” It is a prayer to God for help in understanding that which is necessary (“needful”) contrasted with all that can distract our thoughts and clutter our walk. You are invited to go to the Banner of Truth website, search for VoV and then search for this chapter. It, along with all the other chapters, are worthy texts encouraging prayer to God and self-reflection at the same time.

Given below are most of the phrases in this “Things Needful” chapter that I nominate as Jewel Phrases. As you reach each one, though they are extractions from various sentences, so are not whole thoughts, they are memorable and rich. (In some cases I have slight modified the word form to make it clearer as a stand-alone phrase).

• (The Giver..) songs in the night
• the spread of degeneracy over our human race
• (Thy Power…) recall wandering children
• the diffusing of piety and happiness
• my soul’s secret principles
• bounties to the indigent
• comfort to the mentally ill
• restoration to the sin-diseased
• hope to the despairing
• joy to the sorrowing
• love to the prodigals
• the ashes of unbelief
• spiritual comforts
• melt me into conscious lowliness
• the garden of my soul
• the scents of the Christian life (…wafted to others)
• the great end of my being

Your reading of “Things Needful” in VoV may lead you to weigh fewer of these phrases as worthy of ‘jewel’ status (again recognizing that none of them, except “songs in the night” which is itself a Biblical phrase, carries the authority of Scripture). Further, because none of such phases are whole sentences, none of them are whole thoughts.

But doesn’t, for instance, “the diffusing of piety and happiness” and “bounties to the indigent” and “the ashes of unbelief” carry a particular ‘Aha!’ recognition in you?

• The Christian walk by its nature does “diffuse” piety into such walker and with it, perhaps surprisingly, “joy” is joined to “piety,” contrary to the world’s way of thinking.
• “Bounties” (i.e. large overflowing, bounteous, blessings) that inure not to the worthy, deserving, self-savers, but they come to the “indigent,” again a completely contrary idea to the world’s way of thinking.
• Unbelief has nothing of purchase value, nothing of heat or warmth, available from it, only “ashes,” captures the scorched end of a lost Faith.

You are invited to visit www.kaistudies.net to see Biblical examples of Jewel Phrases, many of which on such site, involve the important Koine Greek word “kai” (hence: kaiStudies), often translated by the English word “and,” but capable of a far richer semantic range of meaning.