reformedbooksonline

Friends, If you have not heard already, Phase 2 of Early English Books Online has just been made publicly available on the net (ahead of schedule); the collection has over 35,000 volumes, including many reformed and puritan works. You may search Phases 1 & 2 here...

The Reformation recognized that numerous commands in Scripture were for the good-order of the Church in their given context, and were not absolutely binding, without qualification, on all times and societies. This Scriptural category of 'Church ordinances' was a common-place in Reformation...

The puritans suffered through many spreading diseases and plagues and have given us: (1) Careful and even handed, cautionary advice in such situations, (2) noble and heroic examples to follow, and (3) a wealth of moving and poignant spiritual treasure on this topic. Here is a webpage that has...

Why should a Christian read a significant portion of the apocryphal literature? Because falsehood and deception breeds on ignorance. The Truth does not fear the unknown, or anything at all; rather, it exposes darkness for what it is. Do not found your faith on ignorance. Have you found God’s...

After the joys of Thanksgiving may we be "continuing instant in prayer". (Rom. 12:12) I hope these many resources that have been collected from the best literature on prayer in reformed history stir us up to be continually conversing with our beloved God; and I hope the collection may be of...

The Jesuit Robert Bellarmine (d. 1621) was the most important apologist in all of Church history for the Romanist Church. Responses to his works numbered into the several hundreds. As Bellarmine's volumes of disputations covered most doctrines of the Christian faith in an orderly way, so full...

Greetings brethren and fellow PBer's, There is a new translation of never-before-translated sections of Samuel Rutherford's Examen Arminianismi available now on Reformed Books Online. The work is a systematic examination and refutation of the teachings of the Remonstrant Arminians and it tends...

While maintaining justification by faith alone, the Reformed have historically answered this question: Yes. Many historic reformed resources are linked on the below webpage on this issue, including many in Latin from Reformed Orthodoxy with numerous quotes from those works translated. The...

Two well known Christians have recently left Christianity, in part citing as a reason contradictions in the Bible. If Christianity is a farce, or is true, it is better to find out now rather than later. One of the most notable and difficult seeming discrepancies in the New Testament is that Mk...

The 1500’s Spanish reformer, Juan Perez, wrote a lengthy tract seeking to confirm and comfort protestants in the heart-breaking circumstances of living under the fear and suffering of the Spanish Inquisition. This work has been newly translated into English by Charles F. Johnson for the first...

Some of the early puritans refused to wear wedding rings as Romanism in their day had caused wedding rings to bear a commonly superstitious meaning. To wear them was to affirm that meaning, and was hence scandalous. Some persons today teach that it is wrong to wear wedding rings. However, as...

I am humbled and thankful to God to be able to present to you a webpage of most of the major whole New Testament Commentaries (or the majority thereof, 75+) in Latin throughout Church history which have been preserved and are on the net. The titles have been translated into English. These...

What day was Christ crucified on? The answer greatly affects how one understands the events and flow of Christ’s whole Last Week, which events form a significant share of the Gospels. The issue will be of very practical import to preachers who preach through Christ's Last Week. The options...

Here is every major whole Bible commentary in Latin through Church history (which has survived, is commonly referenced in the secondary literature and is on the net): 38 total, including those of the puritans. The titles are translated into English. If you have not begun learning Latin yet...

What is theology? Can we meaningfully speak of God? What method ought one to go about in learning or setting forth all of theology? How do faith and reason relate? These are the sorts of questions that Prolegomena (before-speaking) asks and answers. On every front modern theology (and much of...

The more we consider the Lord's things, the more we are pressed to consider the underpinnings of them, and of all theology. Such underpinnings often go under the term 'Prolegomena'. While there is often much written on prolegomena today, there have been great omissions from what was included...

According to Scripture, may Christians eat or drink blood and strangled animals? Gen. 9 prohibited it, as well as the apostolic council of Jerusalem in Acts 15. Yet the nearly universal answer of the Reformed Church during the Reformation and Puritan eras was 'Yes'. Find out the plethora of...

Friends, When Does the Sabbath Begin? In the most comprehensive treatment to-date on the subject, I argue in this academic article from Scripture that the Sabbath has always been from dawn-to-dawn since Creation throughout the Bible, without exception. Fentiman, Travis – The Biblical Sabbath...

Scripture says, "Quench not the Spirit." (1 Thess. 5:19) Yet how many times have we done this? And how liable are we to doing it? May we cultivate fruit from the motions of the Spirit in us. This sermon by Jeremiah Dyke, an English puritan (d. 1620) will help us do exactly that. This is one...

Communion tokens (paper or metal) were used by the reformers and puritans of old for the elders to confirm that persons coming to Christ in the Supper had made adequate preparation thereunto (1 Cor. 11:27-32; 2 Cor. 13:5; etc.) in the sight of the Church. Resources on this indifferent, though...

It was said of the Scottish reformers that: “The ministers that were took not their pattern from any Kirk in the world, no, not from Geneva itself; but, laying God’s Word before them, made reformation according thereunto…” John Row 1637 History of the Kirk of Scotland, p. 12 The great...

Why does the minister close the worship service with an inspired Benediction, standing with up-lifted hands facing God’s people? Here is a page of Biblical and historic, reformed resources on the Benediction, a practice not so easy to find resources on. The Benediction at ReformedBooksOnline...

Ought we to give 10% of our income to the Lord via the Church, or tithe? The modern discussion has been clouded by anti-nomianism on the one hand (that God's moral law does not oblige us) and fundamentalism on the other, with a 'literal' and simplistic hermeneutic of the Bible. Does the...

Free is better than not-free. Here is the harvest of Greek dictionaries available online (both classical and for the New Testament), to help you understand and love God's Word more. Greek Dictionaries - ReformedBooksOnline If you don't know Greek, how are you going to read God's Word as He...

We are to only worship God, and yet Jesus, a man, was worshipped in his earthly ministry. How is this so? The answer is that we worship Jesus, the God-man Mediator, not insofar as He is a creature, but insofar as his Person is God. This precious jewel of theology is argued by the reformed...

What is to be made of Presumptive Regeneration (PR), which has become so popular in the modern, Reformed Church? Jesus told Nicodemus, who was a teacher in Israel and externally in the Covenant in good standing, “You must be born again.” (Jn. 3:7) It is largely not known that the classical era...

Friends, For beginners and scholars alike, here is a massive collection of resources on Scottish Church history, organized by the time period. Apart from researching a dissertation, it will probably have everything you need to answer just about every question you may have about Scottish...

The first split in the Church of Scotland was the Resolutioner-Protester controversy in the 1650's. An introduction to the controversy is on the webpage. This sad division brought out interesting theological controversies concerning: civil resistance, passive and active obedience, the unity of...

What is the definitive work in Church history arguing and delineating classic presbyterianism? Samuel Rutherford’s The Due Right of Presbyteries. Rutherford answers every detailed point of ecclesiology (things about the Church) that you ever thought of, and many, many more. The problem...

Friends, I have compiled a large collection of recommended, religious, reading lists, bibliographies and other reference materials which I hope will be helpful to both beginner and scholar alike. For one studying an issue, the first thing to do is to find the best available literature that is...