That’s right, head on over to The Puritan Library for over 225 free Puritan classics in PDF format. Notables include the Complete Works of Richard Sibbes, the Works of John Owens, John Bunyan, Jonathan Edwards, John Flavel, and Richard Baxter.
For you Bible Majors, I know certain of these books have been required reading for certain undergrad classes. Are they worth having in your library? Yes! Why not in your digital library? Easily searchable and accessible.
I actually found these through another good site, Monergism.com which has a number of excellent free books here. Unfortunately, not all are in PDF. When you get there, you will realize that the potential is vast, and as such, I personally have not perused all available resources. So this post in no way endorses all of what you may find there. You will be surprised at the wealth of free material however!
My personal suggestion for downloading all the books off of Puritan Library is to use a download tool such as DownThemAll, an add-on for Firefox. The files are quite large, so expect to spend some bandwidth and time.
Enjoy!
Today’s chapel message from Dr. Greg Mazak was a real blessing. In case you missed it, you can find his main points here:
Text: Phil. 1:27-2:8
Introduction: We see in Philippians 1 that we must do three things. Stand fast in the gospel, Unite around the gospel, and Suffer for the gospel. Paul goes on to enlarge what it means to be United around the gospel.
“We must unite around the gospel through the humility of Christ.”
Christ was:
1. Willing to let go.
-Christ was always God.
-He did not hold tightly or grasp his own desire.
2. Willing to step down.
-He emptied himself by adding, the form of a bondservant.
3. Willing to submit.
-The greater died for the lesser.
Conclusion: Unity will never take place until we have humility.
For all you Hebrew Students out there, having just learned your basics you know that means the Day of Atonement. This calendar year it falls on the 10th of Tishrei, or September 28th.
The day, while technically one of the fall fasts of Israel is actually a fast. You’ll find the basis for it here in Lev. 16:29-34.
Even if you don’t know Hebrew, check out the background here at CJFM. Take this opportunity to become more aware of Jewish tradition. The more you know, the better you witness!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VmyRiBaegE&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]
Interesting thought from Mark Driscoll.
There is a great deal of discussion in Christianity today as to the role of culture.
It was recently suggested in a class that perhaps not all culture is bad. In fact, culture may in fact be non-moral. No, not amoral, but non-moral. Consider non-moral to be an instrument through which morality is communicated. Could culture in fact be a metaphorical lens?
If culture is a lens, its use varies. The common grace of God may be focused through this lens so that things which are good and wholesome in mankind are a result of God’s goodness, not of man’s. The positive aspects of culture are produced within a period in time. For example, a businessman in the 18th century would dress in a certain fashion. While the specifics of that fashion has changed, the importance of a businessman’s professional appearance has remained to this day. This is evidence of God’s common grace in the businessman’s life.
Conversely, this lens may reflect the natural depravity of man. That is to say that if the businessman desired to steal from his company, the 18th century version would perhaps leave a few barrels of a commodity off of his manifest and have them delivered to his private estate. The 21st century would instead transfer funds to an offshore bank. The methods change to reflect culture, but the motivation of greed remains the same reflection of man’s depravity.
While this will not answer every question,perhaps it will provide a focus for future discussion on culture. so that we may seek to discern whether we are fulfilling God’s grace, or serving the base nature of man.
Though I haven’t written in a while, but a recent post on GoingtoSeminary.com sparked my interest. The title? Unity versus Uniformity.
Unity is listed in Merriam Webster as “a condition of harmony.” It is this definition which Terry Delaney utilizes as the primary focus in his article here.
From a musical perspective, harmony is difficult to achieve and often subjective. Take a choir for example. A typical SATB choir composed of no more than 40 members goes through a great deal of work before “harmony” is achieved.
It starts with getting the right people. Those with skill, education, talent, often a combination of the three. There is typically an audition process to evaluate these qualities.Once these people are selected they must learn to gel together. This is often accomplished through voicing. Matching different people’s voices in a way that promotes harmony.Even once the right people are chosen and organized, the success is dependent upon the daily work put in by each one of the choir members. One member who is under pitch can throw off the harmony of the entire group.And of course, all of the above steps must take place under the guidance and direction of a skilled choir director.
How does this relate to unity in the church? First of all, the guidance of Christ as the head of the church must be first and foremost in the minds of each of the “members.” As far as a church staffing is concerned, the audition process is essential. Certainly, we would never refer to the men who serve God in a pastoral role as “auditioning” for that position but at the same time, there is a definite need for a man’s qualifications to be examined before he is placed in a role where he is counted upon day in and day out to aid in the unity of a group. These men after exhibiting the qualities and characteristics of a man of God must then come together with a mindset of organization and camaraderie. While some churches may do well in their overlapping roles of pastors or elders, it is dangerous when no boundaries are set. For example, when a Bass member of the choir attempts to sing with the Sopranos, the result is humorous, and almost never in harmony. Each part in its own section with distinct boundaries provides the best opportunity (humanly speaking) to promote unity; within churches, as well as choirs. Finally, the day-to-day desire to serve for the glory of God may well be considered the primary end of man. It must however be at the forefront of our focus. It is that impetus that drives us. It is that call which truly unites us.
Then begins the unity of harmony.
