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"Besides, he [Onan] not only defrauded his brother of the right due him, but also preferred his semen to putrify the ground, rather than beget a son in his brother's name. Verse 10: The Jews quite immodestly gabble concerning this thing. It will suffice for me briefly to have touched upon this as much as modesty in speaking permits. The voluntary spilling of semen outside of intercourse between man and woman is a monstrous thing. Deliberately to withdraw from coitus in order that semen may fall to the ground is doubly monstrous. For this is to extinguish the hope of the race and to kill before he is born -- the hoped for offspring. This impiety is especially condemned, now by the Spirit through Moses' mouth, that Onan, as it were, by a violent abortion, no less cruelly than filthily cast upon the ground the offspring of his brother, torn from the maternal womb. Besides, in this way he tried, as far as he was able, to wipe out a part of the human race. If any woman ejects a foetus from her womb by drugs, it is reckoned a crime incapable of expiation and deservedly Onan incurred upon himself the same kind of punishment, infecting the earth with his semen, in order that Tamar might not conceive a future human being as an inhabitant of the earth."
In addition to many arguments against the ungodly practice of birth control, the book, The Bible and Birth Control by Charles Provan, also contains about 35 pages of historic testimony on this point by Martin Luther, A.W. Pink, the Synod of Dordt, the Westminster Annotations, Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, Cotton Mather, Trapp, Usher, Gill, Candlish and many more! A number of these books are available on the Puritan Hard Drive
FREE SWRB SERMONAUDIO MOBILE APPs For Apple (iPhone + iPad), Google (ChurchOne by SermonAudio) and Kindle Fire Mobile Devices (ChurchOne by SermonAudio) -- also for reaching our free Reformation resources (via SermonAudio) you may use Amazon Fire TV, Roku TV, Apple TV, Chromecast TV, Amazon Echo, Android TV, Kindle Fire Tablet, Kindle Fire + Nook | Legacy, Apple Watch, Android Wear (Android Smartwatch), Listen Line, and Kindle Reader
Many more free SWRB Reformation resources follow the loan offer below. Join with us in spreading the best Puritan and Reformed resources worldwide, free of charge, by taking part in our loan offer below. Click on the banner below to email us to get started. Thanks!
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Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. - Mark 9:23, KJV
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Reformation ends not in contemplation, but in action. - George Gillespie, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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If any of these be wanting, a Christian is not perfect, so much as in the perfection of parts. He is but half a Christian who is an orthodox believer, if he be not practical also and he is but half a Christian who is practical, if he be not an orthodox believer. These ends of Scripture do not consist nor stand sure one without another. - George Gillespie, on the Puritan Hard Drive
Trying the Spirits To Avoid Antichrist, His False Doctrine (Arminianism, Sacramentalism, Etc.), His False Worship (the Mass, Man-Made Hymns, Musical Instruments In Public Worship, Etc.), His Holy Days (Christmas {Christ-Mass], Michaelmas, Candlemas, Easter, Good Friday, Ash Wednesday, Assumption of Mary, Immaculate Conception, All Saints Day, Etc.) and Much More, By Pastor Jim Dodson, John Calvin, Greg Price, John Knox, Dr. Steven Dilday, Westminster Divines, W.J. Mencarow, John Owen, Richard Bennett, Jonathan Edwards (Free MP3s, Videos and Books Online)
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There is nothing which any way pertaineth to the worship of God left to the determination of human laws. - George Gillespie, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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There is no sinfulness in the will and affections without some error in the understanding. All lusts which a natural man lives in, are lusts of ignorance. - George Gillespie, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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The knowledge of Christ is profound and large. All other sciences are but shadows; this is a boundless, bottomless ocean. Though something of Christ be unfolded in one age, and something in another, yet eternity itself cannot full unfold him. - John Flavel on the Puritan Hard Drive
The Infinity of God, and the Beauty and Depth of Reformed Theology, by Stephen Charnock, Dr. R.C. Sproul, Charles Hodge, Joseph Pipa, Arthur Pink, Greg Price, John Gill, Dr. Curt Daniel, and Others (Free MP3s, Books, Etc.)
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The Lord Jesus will be revealed mightily, and will make bare his holy Arm, as well in the confusion of Antichrist, as in the conversion of the Jews, before the last judgment, and the end of all things. - George Gillespie, on the Puritan Hard Drive
- Though we have clear and full scriptures in the New Testament for abolishing the Ceremonial law, yet we nowhere read in all the new Testament of the abolishing of the Judicial law, so far as it did concern the punishing of sins against the Moral law, of which Heresy and seducing of souls is one, and a great one. Once God did reveal his will for punishing those sins by such and such punishments. He who will hold that the Christian Magistrate is not bound to inflict such punishments for such sins, is bound to prove that those former laws of God are abolished, and to shew some scripture for it. - George Gillespie, on the Puritan Hard Drive
EXCELLENT FREE MP3 SERMON: The Calvinist View Of God's Love, God's Hate, God's Wrath, Election, Reprobation, Providence, Natural Law, Moral Law, Justification, Sanctification, the Gospel, Liberty, Conscience, Common Grace, Arminianism, Pelagianism, Hermeneutics, and How the Love of Benevolence Does Not Lead To the Toleration of Sin, by Pastor Jim Dodson (Free MP3) A remarkable sermon! Jam packed with Scriptural truth. Clears up issues that are often hard to understand or misinterpreted in our day. Classic Reformation teaching. Don't miss this sermon as it is exceptionally good!
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Those that refuse the covenant, reproach it, or rail against it, ought to be looked at as enemies to it and dealt with accordingly. - George Gillespie, on the Puritan Hard Drive
The definitive free audio series about covenanting!
- It is in vain for them to palliate or shelter their covenant-breaking with appealing from the covenant to the Scripture, for subordianta non pugnant. The covenant is norma recta,– a right rule, though the Scripture alone be norma recti, – the rule of right. If they hold the covenant to be unlawful, or to have anything in it contrary to the word of God, let them speak out. But to profess the breach of the covenant to be a grievous and great fault, and worthy of a severe censure, and yet to decline the charge and proofs thereof, is a most horrible scandal; yea, be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and give ear, O earth! how small regard is had to the oath of God by men professing the name of God. - George Gillespie, The Works of George Gillespie, "Male Audis", 1646, reprinted in 1991 [SWRB] from the 1846 edition, Vol. 1, Chapter 3, p. 13, as cited in Greg Barrow's free online book The Covenanted Reformation Defended, which is also on the Puritan Hard Drive
If you have every wanted to know what the Second or Covenanted Reformation was (is) all about this is one the best books to read for that purpose.
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[This is--GB] a tenet looked upon by the reformed churches as proper to those that are inspired with the ghost of Arminius; for the remonstrants, both at and after the Synod of Dort, did cry down the obligation of all national covenants and oaths, &c., in matters of religion, under the color of taking the Scripture only for a rule. Well, we see the charge declined as nothing. - George Gillespie, The Works of George Gillespie, "Male Audis", 1646, reprinted in 1991 [SWRB] from the 1846 edition, Vol. 1, Chapter 3, p.13, emphases added, as cited in Greg Barrow's free online book The Covenanted Reformation Defended, which is also on the Puritan Hard Drive
Samuel Rutherford (Great Covenanter) Quotes: Christ Over All Suffering, Sickness, Sorrow, Sadness, Sin, Pain, Misery, Afflictions, Depression, Trials, Tears, Losses and Crosses
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My dear brother, let God make of you what He will, He will end all with consolation, and shall make glory out of your suffering. - Samuel Rutherford, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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My Lord Jesus has fully recompensed my sadness with his joys, my losses with his own presence. I find it a sweet and rich thing to exchange my sorrows with Christ's joys, my afflictions with that sweet peace I have with himself. - Samuel Rutherford, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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To believe Christ's cross to be a friend, as he himself is a friend, is also a special act of faith. - Samuel Rutherford, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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Show yourself a Christian by suffering without murmuring. In patience possess your soul - they lose nothing who gain Christ. - Samuel Rutherford, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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Grace tried is better than grace, and more than grace; it is glory in its infancy. - Samuel Rutherford, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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When we shall come home, and enter into the possession of our Brother's fair kingdom, and when our heads shall find the weight of the eternal crown of glory, then we shall look back to pains and sufferings and then we will see life and sorrow to be less than one step or stride from a prison to glory. Our little inch of time-suffering is not worthy of our first night's welcome-home to heaven. - Samuel Rutherford, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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I bless the Lord that all our troubles come through Christ's fingers, and that He casteth sugar among them and casteth in some ounce withts of heaven and of the spirit of glory in our cup. - Samuel Rutherford, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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I find my Lord Jesus cometh not in the precise way that I lay wait for Him. He hath a manner of His own. Oh, how high are His ways above my ways. - Samuel Rutherford, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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Christ and His cross are not separable in this life, howbeit Christ and His cross part at heaven’s door, for there is no house-room for crosses in heaven. One tear, one sigh, one sad heart, one fear, one loss, one thought of trouble cannot find lodging there. - Samuel Rutherford, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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Since He looked upon me my heart is not my own. He hath runaway to heaven with it. - Samuel Rutherford, on the Puritan Hard Drive
- I urge you a nearer communion with Christ, and a growing communion. There are curtains to be opened in Christ that we have never seen before... Therefore dig deep, and sweat, and labor. Take pains for Him, and set aside as much time as you can in each day for Him. - Samuel Rutherford, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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Every day we may see some new thing in Christ. His love hath neither brim nor bottom. - Samuel Rutherford, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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There is no sweeter fellowship with Christ than to bring our wounds and our sores to him. - Samuel Rutherford, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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Christ chargeth me to believe His daylight at midnight. - Samuel Rutherford, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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Howbeit your faith seeth but the black side of providence, yet it hath a better side, and God shall let you see it. ... “For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God,” ergo, shipwreck, losses, &c., work together for the good of them that love God: hence I infer, that losses, disappointments, ill tongues, loss of friends, houses, or country, are God's workmen, set on work to work out good to you, out of everything that befalleth you. - Samuel Rutherford, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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Be not cast down. If ye saw Him who is standing on the shore, holding out His arms to welcome you to land, ye would wade, not only through a sea of wrongs, but through hell itself to be with Him. - Samuel Rutherford, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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If your Lord calls you to suffering, be not dismayed; there shall be a new allowance of the King for you when you come to it. One of the softest pillows Christ has is laid under his witnesses’ head, though often they must set down their bare feet among thorns. - Samuel Rutherford, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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Christ’s honeycombs drop honey and floods of consolation upon my soul; my chains are gold. Were my blackness and Christ’s beauty carded through other, His beauty and holiness would eat up my filthiness. The secret formula of the saints: When I am in the cellar of affliction, I look for the Lord’s choicest wines. - Samuel Rutherford, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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When the greatest part of a Church maketh defection from the Truth, the lesser part remaining sound, the greatest part is the Church of Separatists. - Samuel Rutherford, The Due Right Of Presbyteries, p. 255, on the Puritan Hard Drive
Puritan and Reformed Quotes on Hope, Biblical Eschatology (Postmillennialism and Historicism), Christ's Victory Over All, Etc., By William Symington, Thomas Brooks, John Murray, Iain Murray, the Reformed Presbyterian Church, John Flavel, John Calvin, Andrew Fuller, Greg Price, Kevin Reed, Charles Spurgeon -- With Many Free Puritan and Reformed Resources (MP3s, Books, Videos, Etc.)
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We are therefore bidden to desire that, just as in heaven nothing is done apart from God’s good pleasure, and the angels dwell together in all peace and uprightness, the earth be in like manner subject to such rule, with all arrogance and wickedness brought to an end. - John Calvin, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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The anti-Christian leaven, which has been so extensively diffused, shall be purged out of both the churches and the nations. Every usurper of the rights and prerogatives of Sion's King shall be pushed from his seat. Every rival kingdom shall be overthrown. The civil and ecclesiastical constitutions of the earth shall be regulated by the infallible standard of God's word; their office-bearers, of every kind, shall acknowledge the authority of Messiah the Prince; and the greatest kings on earth shall cast their crowns at his feet. All enemies shall be put under his feet; and such as resist the melting influence of his grace, shall be crushed beneath the iron rod of his power. By spiritual conversion or judicial destruction, he shall effect the entire subjugation of the globe. And, at the last, there shall not be a spot on the face of the habitable earth where the true church of Christ shall not have effected a footing, nor a single tribe of the vast family of man which shall not have felt the meliorating and blissful influence of Christian laws and institutions. - William Symington,Messiah the Prince or, The Mediatorial Dominion of Jesus Christ (Still Waters Revival Books, [1884] 1990), pp. 185-86, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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Now, Christians, the more great and glorious things you expect from God, as the downfall of antichrist, the conversion of the Jews, the conquest of the nations to Christ, the breaking of all yokes, the new Jerusalem's coming down from above, the extraordinary pouring out of the Spirit, and a more general union among all saints, the more holy, yea, the more eminently holy in all your ways and actings it becomes you to be. - Thomas Brooks, The Crown and Glory of Christianity, 1662, CompleteWorks, 1867, p. 444, as cited in Iain Murray's The Puritan Hope: Revival and the Interpretation of Prophecy, p. 84). Thomas Brooks Works are also on the Puritan Hard Drive
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There will come a time when in this world holiness shall be more general, and more eminent, than ever it hath been since Adam fell in paradise. - Thomas Brooks, on the Puritan Hard Drive
- Faith imbued with zeal for the honour of Christ and the glory of God will have no sympathy with the defeatism which is, after all, but disguised fatalism. He who is head over all things is head over all things to his body the Church. He has all authority in heaven and in earth. And he is the Lord of the Spirit. Implicit in the prayer he taught his disciples to pray, 'thy will be done as in heaven so in earth,' is the prayer that the whole earth should be filled with his praise. Nothing less is the measure of the believer's desire. 'And blessed be his glorious name for ever; and let the whole earth be filled with his glory' (Psalm 72:19). - Prof. John Murray, Collected Writings, Vol. 2, p. 350, emphases added, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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Hope is one of the principle springs that keep mankind in motion. It is vigorous, bold, and enterprising. It causes men to encounter dangers, endure hardships, and surmount difficulties innumerable, in order to accomplish the desired end. In religion it is of no less consequence. It makes a considerable part of the religion. Of those that truly fear God. - Andrew Fuller, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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Because of their outlook upon the future all Scottish missionary leaders took the long-term view in evangelization, that is to say, they did not regard the number of individual converts in the present as the first consideration, but rather that energy should be deployed in work which would have the maximum influence upon nations in subsequent generations. - Iain Murray, The Puritan Hope: Revival and the Interpretation of Prophecy
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Prophecy shows that a time is coming when the Kingdom of Christ shall triumph over all opposition and prevail in all the world. The Romish Antichrist shall be utterly destroyed. The Jews shall be converted to Christianity. The fullness of the Gentiles shall be brought in and all mankind shall possess the knowledge of the Lord. The truth in its illuminating, regenerating and sanctifying efficacy shall be felt everywhere, so that the multitudes of all nations shall serve the Lord. Knowledge, love, holiness, and peace shall reign through the abundant outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Arts, sciences, literature, and property shall be consecrated to the advancement of the kingdom of Christ. The social institutions of men shall be regulated by gospel principles, and the nations as such shall consecrate their strength to the Lord. Oppression and tyranny shall come to an end. The nations, instead of being distracted by wars, shall be united in peace. The inhabitants of the world shall be exceedingly multiplied, and pure and undefiled religion shall exert supreme dominion over their hearts and lives so that happiness shall abound. This blessed period shall be of long duration. - The 1901 Testimony of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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By all which, you see where the idolatry of worship lies. The instituting of any, though the smallest part of worship, in and by our own authority, without scripture-warrant, makes it idolatrous, as well as if we worshipped an idol (Ex: 20:5). - John Flavel, The Works of John Flavel, Vol, 4. p. 527, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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...we feel disposed to regard it as something more than a baseless vision of imagination which leads us to hope that the period is not distant when the mighty principles of the Westminster Standards shall be more extensively recognized than they have ever yet been, and shall put forth an energy of influence on society hitherto unknown. - William Symington, Historical Sketch of the Westminster Assembly, pp. 42-43, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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Though our persons fall, our cause shall be as truly, certainly, and infallibly victorious, as that Christ sits at the right hand of God. The gospel shall be victorious. This greatly comforts and refreshes me. - John Owen, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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We also rejoice in hope. We have many and express assurances in the Scriptures, which cannot be broken, of the general, the universal spread and reign of Christianity, which are not yet accomplished. Nothing has yet taken place in the history of Divine grace, wide enough in extent, durable enough in continuance, powerful enough in energy, blessed enough in enjoyment, magnificent enough in glory, to do anything like justice to these predictions and promises. Better days, therefore, are before us, notwithstanding the forebodings of many. - William Jay
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David was not a believer in the theory that the world will grow worse and worse, and that the dispensation will wind up with general darkness, and idolatry. Earth’s sun is to go down amid tenfold night if some of our prophetic brethren are to be believed. Not so do we expect, but we look for the day when the dwellers in all lands shall learn righteousness, shall trust in the Saviour, shall worship thee alone, O God, ‘and shall glorify thy name.’ The modern notion has greatly damped the zeal of the church for missions, and the sooner it is shown to be unscriptural the better for the cause fo God. It neither consorts with prophecy, honours God, nor inspires the church with ardour. Far hence be it driven. - Charles Spurgeon, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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... when the classic historicist position is studied, the fulfillment in the case of Islam and Revelation chapter nine is seen to be so striking and well attested that "even advocates of other approaches who are adamant in their rejection of the historicist system of interpretation have admitted the convincing nature of this particular identification - Steve Gregg, commenting on Rev. 9:1-6 in Revelation: Four Views, p. 176.
To the Very Hour! God's Omnipotence, Omniscience, Omnisapience, Etc., On Display In the Perfect Historical Fulfillments Of Prophecies, In Revelation, Regarding the Rise, Expansion and Fall Of Islam and the Papal Antichrist, and Much More, By Dr. Steven Dilday, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, W.J. Mencarow, John Owen, Greg Price, John Calvin, George Gillespie (Westminster Divine), J.A. Wylie, Richard Bennett, John Foxe, David Steele and Others (Free Reformed MP3s, Videos and Books, Scroll Down on Landing Page)
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The Counter Reformation is generally considered to have three aspects: the Jesuits, the Inquisition, and the Council of Trent. In view of the significance of the Protestant apocalyptic interpretation of history which prophetically pinpointed step by step the events covering the whole Christian era from the beginning to the end (i.e. Historicism - ed.), it seems justifiable to suggest a fourth aspect, namely the preteristic (Preterism - ed.) and futuristic (Futurism - ed.) interpretations launched by Catholic expositors as a counterattack. - Kevin Reed, from his book review titled "The Ecclesiology of John Foxe: A book review by Kevin Reed of John Foxe and the Elizabethan Church", by V. Norskov Olsen, 1973, citing Olsen on p. 47.
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It is generally recognized that Preterism was first systematized by the Roman Catholic Jesuit, Luis de Alcasar, in his commentary on Revelation (1614 a.d.). Alcasar applied the principles of Preterism to the Book of Revelation in identifying the Beast, the False Prophet and Mystery Babylon with past historical events in order to shield the papacy from the Protestant interpretive system (called "Historicism") which identified the man of sin, the antichrist, the False Prophet and Mystery Babylon with the papacy and the Roman Catholic Church. Even Professor Moses Stuart, one of the chief and earliest proponents of Preterism in the United States, noted in his commentary on Revelation (1845 a.d.) the following in regard to the Jesuit, Alcasar (Vol. 1, pp. 463,464): "It might of course be expected, that the Romish church would not be idle, while the Protestant interpreters were so busy in applying the beast and the false prophet of the Apocalypse to the papacy... But no one had ever developed this idea [of Preterism-GLP] fully, and endeavored to illustrate and enforce it, in such a way as Alcassar... It might be expected, that a commentary which thus freed the Romish church from the assaults of Protestants, would be popular among the advocates of the papacy. Alcassar met, of course, with general approbation and reception among the Romish community. - God's Gracious Covenant With Israel #17 (Partial & Full Preterism Refuted #1), by Greg Price (Free MP3 & PDF)
PRETERISM REFUTED (THE DEFINITIVE REFUTATION OF PARTIAL PRETERISM AND FULL PRETERISM, A DAMNABLE HERESY ALSO KNOW AS HYPER-PRETERISM OR HYMENAEISM), FREE AUDIO AND TEXT OF SERMONS BY GREG PRICE (18 FREE MP3s and PDFs), WITH MORE FREE REFORMED MP3s, BOOKS AND VIDEOS ABOUT ESCHATOLOGY BY JOHN CALVIN, WESTMINSTER DIVINES, DR. STEVEN DILDAY, JOHN OWEN, W.J. MENCAROW, JONATHAN EDWARDS, JIM DODSON, CHARLES SPURGEON, DR. FRANCIS N. LEE, J.A. WYLIE, RICHARD BENNETT, JOHN FOXE, GEORGE GILLESPIE, DAVID STEELE, E.B. ELLIOTT AND OTHERS
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Nothing is more contrary to the reverence due to God than that levity which bespeaks a mind too much given to license and devoid of awe. - John Calvin, on the Puritan Hard Drive
FREE SWRB SERMONAUDIO MOBILE APPs For Apple (iPhone + iPad), Google (ChurchOne by SermonAudio) and Kindle Fire Mobile Devices (ChurchOne by SermonAudio) -- also for reaching our free Reformation resources (via SermonAudio) you may use Amazon Fire TV, Roku TV, Apple TV, Chromecast TV, Amazon Echo, Android TV, Kindle Fire Tablet, Kindle Fire + Nook | Legacy, Apple Watch, Android Wear (Android Smartwatch), Listen Line, and Kindle Reader
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“Surely if it draws your heart nearer to God and mortifies it more to this vain world, it is a rod in the hand of special love.”- John Flavel, on the Puritan Hard Drive
- A Calvinist only preaches on two occasions: In season and out of season (2 Timothy 4:2)!
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Those prayers God likes best come seething hot from the heart. - Thomas Watson, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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Believer, closet prayer will be found to be but a lifeless, comfortless thing, if you do not enjoy communion with God in it. Therefore press after it, as for life. - Thomas Brooks, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer. - John Bunyan, on the Puritan Hard Drive
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Now, Christians, the more great and glorious things you expect from God, as the downfall of antichrist, the conversion of the Jews, the conquest of the nations to Christ, the breaking of all yokes, the new Jerusalem's coming down from above, the extraordinary pouring out of the Spirit, and a more general union among all saints, the more holy, yea, the more eminently holy in all your ways and actings it becomes you to be. - Thomas Brooks, The Crown and Glory of Christianity, 1662, Complete Works (on the Puritan Hard Drive), 1867, p. 444
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The anti-Christian leaven, which has been so extensively diffused, shall be purged out of both the churches and the nations. Every usurper of the rights and prerogatives of Sion's King shall be pushed from his seat. Every rival kingdom shall be overthrown. The civil and ecclesiastical constitutions of the earth shall be regulated by the infallible standard of God's word; their office-bearers, of every kind, shall acknowledge the authority of Messiah the Prince; and the greatest kings on earth shall cast their crowns at his feet. All enemies shall be put under his feet; and such as resist the melting influence of his grace, shall be crushed beneath the iron rod of his power. By spiritual conversion or judicial destruction, he shall effect the entire subjugation of the globe. And, at the last, there shall not be a spot on the face of the habitable earth where the true church of Christ shall not have effected a footing, nor a single tribe of the vast family of man which shall not have felt the meliorating and blissful influence of Christian laws and institutions. - William Symington,Messiah the Prince or, The Mediatorial Dominion of Jesus Christ (Still Waters Revival Books, [1884] 1990), pp. 185-86, on the Puritan Hard Drive.
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- B. Leviticus 10:1-3: Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said to Aaron, "This is what the LORD spoke, saying: 'By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; and before all the people I must be glorified'" (emphasis added). Carefully note that the nature of the sin committed by Nadab and Abihu was that they offered profane fire before the Lord "which He had not commanded them." God did not say they offered profane fire "which was forbidden them." The fact that He had not commanded the use of the strange fire meant it was forbidden (God's silence in the matter meant an express prohibition of all profane fire). According to Leviticus 16:12 it would appear that the coals for the incense offering were to come from the fire on the altar of burnt offering. The priest then brought the coals from the altar of burnt offering into the Tabernacle, and on the altar of incense he spread the coals out mixing the coals and the incense which then filled the Holy Place. Apparently in a rather spontaneous act of worship (with perhaps "good intentions" cf. Lev. 9:22-24) they took fire from another source to praise God. God had just consumed the burnt offering by a miraculous display of fire, and all the people were in an enthusiastic state of shouting and falling on their faces before the Most High God. Leviticus 10:1 immediately follows with "Then." It may be that in all of the excitement, Nadab and Abihu, quite overcome by the demonstration of God's awesome power took fire from the quickest and nearest source available to them and immediately went into the Tabernacle to offer incense to the Lord God. They took liberties in worship which God had not given them, and they were slain. They added to the worship of God an act that was not specifically authorized by God. They brought their own man-made worship into the house of God, and His anger burned against them. - FOUNDATION FOR REFORMATION: THE REGULATIVE PRINCIPLE OF WORSHIP, by Greg Price (Free Online Book About Sola Scriptura and the Regulative Principle of Worship)
These four messages make up some of the best teaching you will ever hear on the second commandment, Puritan and Reformed worship, and the regulative principle of worship.
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John Calvin: "God here cuts off from men every occasion for making evasions, since he condemns by this one phrase, "I have not commanded them," whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions, than that they are not commanded by God: for when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and attend not to his commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle was adopted by the Papists, all those fictitious modes of worship, in which they absurdly exercise themselves, would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying his word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The Prophet's words then are very important, when he says, that God had commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind; as though he had said, that men assume too much wisdom, when they devise what he never required, nay, what he never knew." - John Calvin on the Puritan Hard Drive
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John Calvin wrote, "If it be asked, then, by what things chiefly the Christian religion has a standing amongst us, and maintains its truth, it will be found that the following two not only occupy the principal place, but comprehend under them all the other parts, and consequently the whole substance of Christianity, viz., a knowledge first, of the right way to worship God; and secondly of the source from which salvation is to be sought. When these are kept out of view, though we may glory in the name of Christians, our profession is empty and vain." - Cited in, Carlos Eire, War Against the Idols: The Reformation of Worship, p. 198, citing John Calvin's great book, On the Necessity of Reforming the Church (FREE ONLINE)
Why Most Worship Is Actually Idolatry, Which God Hates, According To the Bible (the Second Commandment Or The Regulative Principle Of Worship, RPW) By John Calvin, Pastor Jim Dodson, John Calvin, , the Westminster Assembly, Dr. Steven Dilday, John Owen, W.J. Mencarow, Jonathan Edwards, Kevin Reed, Thomas Watson, Greg Price and Others (Free MP3s, Videos, Etc.)
What's Wrong With Worship In Most Churches? -- False Worship (Violations Of the Second Commandment Or the Regulative Principle of Worship) and Well Intentioned Idolatry Brings God's Wrath and Even Death, by Jim Dodson, John Owen, Jonathan Edwards, Greg Price, John Calvin, Kevin Reed, David Steele, William J. Mencarow, John Flavel, Dr. Steven Dilday, John Girardeau, John McNaugher and Others (Free MP3s, Videos, Books, Kindle, Etc.)
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John Calvin on the Regulative Principle of Worship: "...which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart." "...God here cuts off from men every occasion for making evasions, since he condemns by this one phrase, "I have not commanded them," whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions, than that they are not commanded by God: for when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and attend not to his commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle was adopted by the Papists, all those fictitious modes of worship, in which they absurdly exercise themselves, would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying his word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The Prophet's words then are very important, when he says, that God had commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind; as though he had said, that men assume too much wisdom, when they devise what he never required, nay, what he never knew." - John Calvin, Commentary on Jeremiah 7:31
Classic Calvinist Worship, What Is It? by John Knox, Greg Price, John Calvin, Dr. Steven Dilday, Jonathan Edwards, Jim Dodson, Samuel Rutherford, Kevin Reed, John McNaugher, W.J. Mencarow, David Steele, Dr. Reg Barrow, George Gillespie and Others (Free MP3s, Videos, Books)
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We glorify God by believing. Rom 4:20. 'Abraham was strong in faith, giving glory to God.' Unbelief affronts God, it gives him the lie; 'he that believeth not, maketh God a liar.' 1 John 5:10. But faith brings glory to God; it sets to its seal that God is true. John 3:33. He that believes flies to God's mercy and truth, as to an altar of refuge; he engarrisons himself in the promises, and trusts all he has with God. Ps. 31:5. 'Into thy hands I commit my spirit.' This is a great way of bringing glory to God, and God honours faith, because faith honours him. It is a great honour we do to a man when we trust him with all we have, when we put our lives and estates into his hand; it is a sign we have a good opinion of him. The three children glorified God by believing. 'The God whom we serve is able to deliver us, and will deliver us.' Dan 3:17. Faith knows there are no impossibilities with God, and will trust him where it cannot trace him. - Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity, p.12 (on the Puritan Hard Drive), emphases added. This quotation was located using the Master Search Index on the Puritan Hard Drive, during a search for word "unbelief."
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"If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me." (Luke 9:23). Self-denial is the highest sign of a sincere Christian. Hypocrites may have great knowledge and make large profession — but it is only the true-hearted saint who can deny himself for Christ. Self-denial is the foundation of godliness, and if this foundation is not well-laid, the whole building will fall. If there is any lust in our souls which we cannot deny — it will turn at length, either to scandal or apostasy. Self-denial is the thread which must run along through the whole work of piety. A man must deny self-esteem. Every man by nature has a high opinion of himself. He is drunk with spiritual pride. A proud man disdains the cross. He thinks himself too good to suffer. Oh deny self-esteem! Let the plumes of pride fall off! A man must deny carnal self. This I take to be the chief sense of the text. He must deny carnal ease. The flesh cries out for ease. It is loath to put its neck under Christ's yoke or stretch itself upon the cross. The flesh cries out, "Oh! the cross of Christ is heavy! There are nails in that cross which will lacerate, and fetch blood!" We must deny our self-ease, and be as a deaf adder, stopping our ears to the charmings of the flesh! Those who lean on the soft pillow of sloth, will hardly take up the cross. This self-denying frame of heart is very hard. This is "to pluck out the right eye." It is easier to overcome men and devils, than to overcome self. "Stronger is he who conquers himself, than he who conquers the strongest walled city." Self is the idol, and how hard it is to sacrifice this idol and to turn self-seeking into self-denial! But though it is difficult—it is essential. A Christian must first lay down self — before he can take up the cross. Alas! how far are they then from self-denial, who cannot deny themselves in the least things; who in their diet or apparel, instead of martyring the flesh — pamper the flesh! Instead of taking up the cross — take up their cups! Is this self-denial, to let loose the reins to the flesh? Oh Christians, as ever you would be able to carry Christ's cross, begin to deny yourselves. "Everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for My sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will have eternal life!" (Matthew 19:29). Here is a very choice bargain! - Thomas Watson, The Beatitudes, on the Puritan Hard Drive.
- "Pray much for self-denial. Prayer sets God to work, Psalm 10:17. Some pray for assurance but lack self-denial, as if God would set seal to a blank. Let this be your grand request, a self-denying frame of heart. Self-denial does not grow in nature, it is a fruit of the Spirit. Beg God that he will plant this heavenly flower in your soul. Say 'Lord, whatever Thou deniest me, deny me not self-denial. Let me rather lack great parts, nay, let me rather lack the comforts of the Spirit than self-denial." There may be going to heaven without comfort, but there is no going there without self-denial." - Thomas Watson, on the Puritan Hard Drive.
- The holiness of God is the height of God’s excellency. ... Christ teaches self-denial and how that brings contentment. ... There was never any man or woman so contented as a self-denying man or woman. No-one ever denied himself as much as Jesus Christ did: he gave his cheeks to the smiters, he opened not his mouth, he was as a lamb when he was led to the slaughter, he made no noise in the street. He denied himself above all, and was willing to empty himself, and so he was the most contented that ever any was in the world; and the nearer we come to learning to deny ourselves as Christ did, the more contented shall we be, and by knowing much of our own vileness we shall learn to justify God. Whatever the Lord shall lay upon us, yet he is righteous for he has to deal with a most wretched creature. A discontented heart is troubled because he has no more comfort, but a self-denying man rather wonders that he has as much as he has. Oh, says the one, I have but a little; Aye, says the man who has learned this lesson of self-denial, but I rather wonder that God bestows upon me the liberty of breathing in the air, knowing how vile I am, and knowing how much sin the Lord sees in me. And that is the way of contentment, by learning self-denial. ... But there is a further thing in self-denial which brings contentment. Thereby the soul comes to rejoice and take satisfaction in all God’s ways; I beseech you to notice this. If a man is selfish and self-love prevails in his heart, he will be glad of those things that suit with his own ends, but a godly man who has denied himself will suit with and be glad of all things that shall suit with God’s ends. A gracious heart says, God’s ends are my ends and I have denied my own ends; so he comes to find contentment in all God’s ends and ways, and his comforts are multiplied, whereas the comforts of other men are single. It is very rare that God’s way shall suit with a man’s particular end, but always God’s ways suit with his own ends. if you will only have contentment when God’s ways suit with your own ends, you can have it only now and then, but a self-denying man denies his own ends, and only looks at the ends of God and therein he is contented. When a man is selfish he cannot but have a great deal of trouble and vexation, for if I regard myself, my ends are so narrow that a hundred things will come and jostle me, and I cannot have room in those narrows ends of my own. You know in the City what a great deal of stir there is in narrow streets: since Thames street is so narrow they jostle and wrangle and fight one with another because the place is so narrow, but in the broad streets they can go quietly. Similarly men who are selfish meet and so jostle with one another, one man is for self in one thing, and another man is for self in another thing, and so they make a great deal of stir. But those whose hearts are enlarged and make public things their ends, and can deny themselves, have room to walk and never jostle with one another as others do. The lesson of self-denial is the first lesson that Jesus Christ teaches men who are seeking contentment. - Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, on the Puritan Hard Drive.
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There is not a word we whisper but God hears it. “There is not a word in my tongue—but lo, O Lord, you know it altogether.” There is not the most subtle thought that comes into our mind—but God perceives it. “I know their thoughts.” Thoughts speak as loud in God’s ears—as words do in ours. All our actions, though ever so subtly contrived, and secretly conducted, are visible to the eye of Omniscience. “I know their works.” Achan hid the Babylonish garment in the earth—but God brought it to light. Minerva was drawn in such curious colors, and so lively pencilled, that whichever way one turned, Minerva’s eyes were upon him. Just so, whichever way we turn ourselves, God’s eye is upon us!
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"Any sin is more or less heinous depending upon the honor and majesty of the one whom we had offended. Since God is of infinite honor, infinite majesty, and infinite holiness, the slightest sin is of infinite consequence. The slightest sin is nothing less than cosmic treason when we realize against whom we have sinned." - Jonathan Edwards on the Puritan Hard Drive
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"Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee" (Job 22:21). "Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty glory in his might, let not the rich glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth, and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord" (Jer 9:23,24). A spiritual and saving knowledge of God is the greatest need of every human creature.
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This series is a splendid overview of the history of Puritan and Reformed thought on Revelation, referencing many Reformation source documents. A great place to start if you are wondering what the book of Revelation is all about.
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"Those prayers God likes best come seething hot from the heart." - Thomas Watson (on the Puritan Hard Drive)
"If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me." - Robert Murray McCheyne (on the Puritan Hard Drive)
"Prayer is as natural an expression of faith as breathing is of life." - Jonathan Edwards (on the Puritan Hard Drive)
"Prayer is the soul's breathing itself into the bosom of its heavenly Father." - Thomas Watson (on the Puritan Hard Drive)
"'Rejoice evermore; pray without ceasing.' Delight makes the melody; prayer else will be but a harsh sound." - Stephen Charnock (on the Puritan Hard Drive)
"Prayer requires more of the heart than of the tongue." - Adam Clarke (on the Puritan Hard Drive)
"To an effectual prayer there must concur the intention of the mind and the affections of the heart; else it is not praying but parroting" - John Trapp (on the Puritan Hard Drive)
"One way to get comfort is to plead the promise of God in prayer, show Him His handwriting; God is tender of His Word." - Thomas Watson (on the Puritan Hard Drive)
"Believer, closet prayer will be found to be but a lifeless, comfortless thing, if you do not enjoy communion with God in it. Therefore press after it, as for life."- Thomas Brooks (on the Puritan Hard Drive)
"He who prays as he ought, will endeavor to live as he prays." - John Owen (on the Puritan Hard Drive)
"Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease fromprayer." - John Bunyan (on the Puritan Hard Drive)
"Cold prayers always freeze before they reach heaven." - Thomas Brooks (on the Puritan Hard Drive)
"Pray often; for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan." - John Bunyan (on the Puritan Hard Drive)
"I often pray, Lord, make me as holy as a pardoned sinner can be." - Robert Murray McCheyne
"I have been benefited by praying for others; for by making an errand to God for them I have gotten something for myself." - Samuel Rutherford (on the Puritan Hard Drive)
"God can pick sense out of a confused prayer." - Richard Sibbes (on the Puritan Hard Drive)
"You should, in Tertullian's phrase, with a holy conspiracy, besiege heaven." - Thomas Manton (on the Puritan Hard Drive)
"I wish I could pray like my dog looks at a piece of meat." - Martin Luther (on the Puritan Hard Drive)
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Postmillennialism (Free Reformation MP3s, Puritan Books and Reformed Quotes), by Jonathan Edwards, John Murray, Samuel Rutherford, Dr. Steven Dilday, Iain Murray, Thomas Brooks, Greg Price, Pastor Jim Dodson, Dr. F.N. Lee, David Silversides and Others
Samuel Rutherford (Great Covenanter) Quotes: Christ Over All Suffering, Sickness, Sorrow, Sadness, Sin, Pain, Misery, Afflictions, Depression, Trials, Tears, Losses and Crosses
Thomas Watson (Puritan) Quotes On Christ (the Quintessence Of All Delights), God's Love, God's Wrath, Prayer, Peace, Joy, Sin, Sanctification, Idolatry, Afflictions, Self-Denial, Discontent, the Valley Of Tears, Death, Heaven, Hell, Eternity
FREE SWRB SERMONAUDIO MOBILE APPs For Apple (iPhone + iPad), Google (ChurchOne by SermonAudio) and Kindle Fire Mobile Devices (ChurchOne by SermonAudio) -- also for reaching our free Reformation resources (via SermonAudio) you may use Amazon Fire TV, Roku TV, Apple TV, Chromecast TV, Amazon Echo, Android TV, Kindle Fire Tablet, Kindle Fire + Nook | Legacy, Apple Watch, Android Wear (Android Smartwatch), Listen Line, and Kindle Reader
Puritan and Reformed Quotes on Hope, Biblical Eschatology (Postmillennialism and Historicism), Christ's Victory Over All, Etc., By William Symington, Thomas Brooks, John Murray, Iain Murray, the Reformed Presbyterian Church, John Flavel, John Calvin, Andrew Fuller, Greg Price, Kevin Reed, Charles Spurgeon -- With Many Free Puritan and Reformed Resources (MP3s, Books, Videos)
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