The musical instruments he mentions pertained to the time of instruction.1 Nor should we stupidly imitate a practice which was proper only for God’s old [covenant] people…. They were for use under the legal cult.2 John Calvin, From his commentary on Ps . . . Continue reading →
Directory For The Publick Worship Of God
The Directory FOR The Publick Worship of God CHARLES I. Parl. 3. Sess. 5. An ACT of the PARLIAMENT of the KINGDOM of SCOTLAND, approving and establishing the DIRECTORY for Publick Worship AT EDINBURGH, February 6, 1645 THE Estates of Parliament now . . . Continue reading →
Directory Of Publick Worship: Holy Days Have No Warrant In The Word
THERE is no day commanded in scripture to be kept holy under the gospel but the Lord’s day, which is the Christian Sabbath. Festival days, vulgarly called Holy-days, having no warrant in the word of God, are not to be continued. Nevertheless, . . . Continue reading →
Beza: No Judaistic Ceremony Or Stupid Superstition
We say that it is a superstition to esteem one day more holy than another. or to think that to abstain from labor is something which, in itself, pleases God (Rom 14:5, 6; Col 2:16, 17). But, following what the Lord has . . . Continue reading →
Lust Isn’t Only Excessive Desire But Desire Wrongly Focused
In other words, homosexuality is lustful not just because it has to do with excessive desire. It is lustful because by participating in homosexual behavior a person dismantles one of God’s most important sexual boundaries. Even in committed homosexual relationships, then, homosexual . . . Continue reading →
Calvin On Lent
At that time the superstitious observance of Lent had prevailed everywhere, because the common people thought that in it they were doing some exceptional service to God, and the pastors commended it as a holy imitation of Christ. On the contrary, it . . . Continue reading →
The Problem Of Lent For Confessional Reformed Christians
After all, Protestants don’t have a history of self-inflicted pain to merit spiritual rewards. If as the gospel allies would have it that Lent is to remind us of Christ, then we should also be reminded that nothing we do to attack . . . Continue reading →
A Protestant Catechism On The Papacy
Have the Apostles any successors? To speak properly, they had none to succeed them in the degree and dignity of apostleship; and therefore when James was beheaded, none was chosen into his place. Otherwise all pastors and ministers of the gospel, who . . . Continue reading →
No Other Head Of The Church
There is no other head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ. Nor can the Pope of Rome, in any sense, be head thereof; but is that Antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalts himself, in the . . . Continue reading →
Ursinus On Catechesis
The Greek word κατηχησις (catechesis) is derived from κατηχεω (catecheo), as κατχισμος (catechismos) is from κατχιζω (catechizo). Both words, according to their common signification, mean to sound, to resound, to instruct by word of mouth, and to repeat the sayings of another. . . . Continue reading →
Cocceius On The Definition Of Covenant
§5. The covenant of God with man is different than those made by men among themselves. For men make covenants for mutual benefits; however, God makes covenant for His people. Indeed, the covenant of God is nothing other than the divine declaration . . . Continue reading →
Ames On Substantial Identity Of The Moral Law With The Decalogue
9. From this speciall and proper way of governing reasonable Creatures, there ariseth that covenant, which is between God and them. For this covenant is as it were a certaine transaction of God with the Creature, whereby God commandeth, promiseth, threatneth, fulfilleth, . . . Continue reading →
He Was To Repeat That Covenant Of Works With Israel
The covenant of works, which may also be called a legal or natural covenant, is founded in nature, which by creation was pure and holy, and in the law of God, which in the first creation was engraven in man’s heart. For . . . Continue reading →
A Proof Of The Faith: Confessing Our Sins
The candor and honesty which those whom the Holy Spirit employed in committing this doctrine to writing, in speaking of and condemning their own faults, as well as those of others, may be urged as an argument in favor of the truth . . . Continue reading →
Amandus Polanus On Republication
“God repeated the same covenant (of works) with the people of Israel through Moses . . . it is called the covenant of Moses, the covenant of law, and commonly the old covenant.” [“Idem fedus [sic] repetivit Deus cum populo Israelitico per . . . Continue reading →
William Perkins On Baptismal Regeneration
Paul, Rom. 4. stands much upon this to prove that justification by faith is not conferred by the sacraments. And from the circumstance of time he gathers that Abraham was first justified and afterward received circumcision, the sign and the seal of . . . Continue reading →
Under The New Covenant The Promised Blessings Not Given To All
2. Under the new covenant or testament, however, these promised blessings are not given to all men, because God is true, thus the covenant is necessarily discriminate. These blessings are, however, given doubly when the covenant is received. In the first place, . . . Continue reading →
Ursinus On The First Two Proofs Of The Christian Religion
IV. what are the evidences by which the truth of the christian religion or the doctrine of the church is confirmed? . . . 1. The purity and perfection of the Law. It is impossible that religion should be true and divine . . . Continue reading →
William Perkins On Common Grace
First, that we may put a difference between Christian and heathen virtues. For, howbeit the same virtues in kind and name are and may be found both in those that profess Christ and those also that are ignorant of the true God. . . . Continue reading →
True Philosophy Contains Truth As A Ray Of The Wisdom Of God
Reduced to a system by wise and earnest men
True philosophy, although it also differs very much from the doctrine of the church, yet, it does not array itself against it nor is it a wicked fabrication and device of Satan, as is true of the false doctrines of the sects, . . . Continue reading →