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- "The Puritan Hard Drive is a tremendous blessing... you can easily do ten hours worth of research in just seconds! - Pastor Paul Washer, HeartCry Missionary Society, Author, Conference Speaker, etc.
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Why Most Worship Is Actually Idolatry, Which God Hates, According To the Bible (the Second Commandment Or The Regulative Principle Of Worship, RPW), By Jim Dodson, John Calvin, Greg Price, the Westminster Assembly, Dr. Steven Dilday, John Owen, et al.
- The Protestant Reformation was a conflict over many critical issues. Of all the issues contested between Romanists and Reformers, no issue was more crucial than the question of true worship. John Knox displayed a preeminent concern for worship. Throughout his ministry, the Reformer proclaimed the scriptural law of worship: all forms of worship (and all religious ceremonies) must possess clear scriptural warrant, if they are to be admitted as valid means of worship. This concept has subsequently been called the regulative principle of worship, because it regulates our approach to God in worship.- Kevin Reed, Preface to True and False Worship, by John Knox
- JOHN KNOX, ON THE REGULATIVE PRINCIPLE OF WORSHIP, WRITES: "The matter is not of so small importance, as some suppose. The question is, whether God or man ought to be obeyed in matters of religion? In mouth, all do confess that only God is worthy of sovereignty. But after many - by the instigation of the devil, and by the presumptuous arrogance of carnal wisdom and worldly policy - have defaced God's holy ordinance, men fear not to follow what laws and common consent (mother of all mischief) have established and commanded. But thus continually I can do nothing but hold, and affirm all things polluted, yea, execrable and accursed, which God by his Word has not sanctified in his religion. God grant you his Holy Spirit rightly to judge." - John Knox, Works VI:14, cited in John Knox, True and False Worship
New Free SWRB Android App, Free SWRB iPhone and iPad App Too, With Thousands of Free Covenanter, Puritan and Reformed MP3s, Books and Videos, By Various Westminster Divines (Samuel Rutherford, George Gillespie and Others), John Calvin, John Knox, Thomas Watson, Charles Spurgeon, John Owen, John Bunyan, Dr. Steven Dilday, Jonathan Edwards, John Flavel, Jim Dodson, Greg Price, et al.
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It is appropriate for us to offer a few comments on the placement of crosses in edifices of worship. When we speak of the cross, or crosses, we are referring to the visible symbol called a cross, not the sufferings of the Saviour. When the apostle Paul exclaimed, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Gal. 6:14), he uttered a precious truth. But the apostle's expression is obviously a synecdoche, by which he exalts the saving work of Christ. Paul's statement has no reference to visible symbols, known among us as crosses.
Now, what is a symbol? It is a visible representation of something. If they say that the cross is a symbol of deity, then they again violate the second commandment, which prohibits making or using representations of the Lord (Cf. Deut. 4:15-16; Acts 17:29). Of course, most Protestants would not claim that the cross is a representation of God. Therefore, cross-keepers must explain it as a symbol of something else; so they shift the argument to say that a cross is a symbol of redemption, or of the work of Christ.
Cross-keepers implicitly impugn the wisdom of Christ by supplementing the sacraments with the cross as an accessory sign. It is an inescapable implication, that the cross, employed as a symbol or as an aid to devotion, partakes of a sacramental characteristic as a sign.
Some will claim that the posting of a cross in a home, or on a church building, is an incidental thing, much as the arrangement of chairs, carpet, and wallpaper. But such incidental elements of decor do not possess the symbolic character of the cross. Cross-keepers must contend with the undeniable fact that the placement of a cross within an edifice of worship is not a merely indifferent aspect of architectural design. The only incidentals in a place of worship are those "circumstances concerning the worship of God, and the government of the Church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the word, which are always to be observed. "[10. Westminster Confession of Faith, 1:6.]
Moreover, even if the cross had possessed a noble origin, the superstition now linked with it would argue for its abolition. Consider the example of Hezekiah in reference to the brazen serpent. The brazen serpent was originally constructed at God's command, yet it was destroyed when it became a snare to the people of God (2 Kings 18:4). How much more quickly, then, should we discard a man-made symbol which continues to be an ensign of the Roman Antichrist?
- "The Puritan Hard Drive has been such a superb blessing to me personally & for ministry! The immense heritage of Puritan and Biblical pastors, leaders, and teachers is given to us in a single source on the Puritan Hard Drive. Right here at your fingertips are the works of such men as John Wycliffe, John Huss, Martin Luther, William Tyndale, John Calvin, Thomas Cranmer, John Bunyan, John Owen, Matthew Poole, George Whitefield, Charles Spurgeon, J. C. Ryle, and on and on until you reach the great Biblical scholars of the present century. More than standing on the shoulders of these illustrious men, you have their thoughts in written and audio format." - Richard Bennett (former Roman Catholic priest, now a Reformed Baptist minister, conference speaker, Banner of Truth author, etc.), Berean Beacon
- "For God is not worshiped of us, but when it is his will to accept our worship: and it is not his will to accept our worship, but when it is according to his will." - William Perkins (Puritan), on the Puritan Hard Drive
- "There has not been a more valuable extra-biblical resource and tool than the Puritan Hard Drive. "It holds some of the most priceless Reformed works of God-centered and Christ-glorifying truth that were ever penned. Most students, ministers and scholars of the Bible would never personally acquire even half the literal number of books on the Puritan Hard Drive, much less the extreme caliber of its contents. In God's providence modern day Christians have been chosen to be the recipients of both a theological and practical blessing. May we not squander it." - Dr. Matthew McMahon, Pastor, Author, Theologian, Seminary Professor, A Puritan's Mind Web Site, etc."
- "I received it (the Puritan Hard Drive - ed.) yesterday and am blown away by it! It is simple to set up and there is a tremendous amount of material available that will last me for years as I go through it all. The search tools are, by themselves, well worth the price of the Puritan Hard Drive. It makes finding authors, topics and documents incredibly easy and fast. (The speed itself is amazing!) I also find the ability to copy from any of the (searchable - ed.) PDFs and paste into whatever .doc I happen to have open to be extremely useful. I'm also glad to see that there are audio sermons/teachings (MP3s - ed.), as well as WMVs (videos - ed) from a variety of speakers and preachers as this provides a well-rounded approach to my own theology. ... The Puritan Hard Drive is a tremendous asset to my library and a huge time-saver for my own learning, preaching, teaching and counseling. Thank you ever so much for doing this. - Kevin Guillory (Protestant Pastor who was formerly a Roman Catholic priest)
- "Wow! I'm impressed! The material I've read so far has literally changed my life. My heart burned within me as I discovered truths from hundreds of years ago." - Phil Gibson, South Wales, UK (Pastor, Missionary, etc.) on the Puritan Hard Drive
- "The Puritan Hard Drive is an astonishing piece of work. The scope of material is vast and the search facility is a tremendous bonus. There is enough here to fill a lifetime of study and it is a magnificent tool for genuine research (not to make us all superficial 'experts' in historical theology without proper study!). There are works from a huge number of Reformed worthies of the past and audio sermons up to the present. We commend SWRB for making this wealth of material available to the people of God." - Pastor David Silversides (Loughbrickland Reformed Presbyterian Church, Northern Ireland), Author, Theologian, etc.
- "For God is not worshiped of us, but when it is his will to accept our worship: and it is not his will to accept our worship, but when it is according to his will." - William Perkins (Puritan), on the Puritan Hard Drive
- JOHN CALVIN: "Some one will therefore ask me what counsel I would like to give to a believer who thus dwells in some Egypt or Babylon where he may not worship God purely, but is forced by the common practice to accommodate himself to bad things. The first advice would be to leave [i.e. relocate - GB] if he could... If someone has no way to depart, I would counsel him to consider whether it would be possible for him to abstain from all idolatry in order to preserve himself pure and spotless toward God in both body and soul. Then let him worship God in private (at home - ed.), praying him to restore his poor church to its right estate. - John Calvin, Come Out From Among Them, The Anti-Nicodemite Writings of John Calvin, Protestant Heritage Press, "A Short Treatise," pp. 93-94, emphases added. Calvin quote (above) cited in Appendix G in The Covenanted Reformation Defended by Greg Barrow
- "There is no other way to get such easy, convenient and inexpensive access to so many great works from the best Reformation and Puritan preachers and teachers, past and present -- and the study software on the Puritan Hard Drive is out of this world in terms of usefulness! Nothing like the Puritan Hard Drive has ever been available before! The Puritan Hard Drive is the must have digital learning device for Puritan and Reformed studies." - Pastor W.J. Mencarow (Reformation Church, Boerne, Texas - San Antonio area), Author, Editor of The Paper Source Journal, and has been interviewed on numerous radio and TV programs including "Good Morning America," most networks and in major U.S. newspapers and magazines, etc.
- 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
- As a self-confessed computer bozo (if not leaning somewhat towards computer-phobic at times) I am delighted to report that the technical, usability, etc., side of the Puritan Hard Drive has presented no challenges to me whatsoever! It is as simple as ABC! On its contents front, it surely is unsurpassed in wholesome doctrine. ... you will be hard pressed to read more uplifting articles on the Christian life, since post-Apostolic days. ... nowhere can you find, in one concentrated place, the overflowing unction of the Holy Spirit in the rivers and tributaries that comprise the Puritan Hard Drive's simple yet expansive creation. Well done SWRB! - Terence Ellard (Christian Evangelist, England)
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