“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
Mt. 22:37-40
“Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law… turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein…
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage… for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”
Josh. 1:7-9
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Our Purpose
Our purpose is to promote Biblical, historic, reformed Christianity by providing in one location a collection of the best theological literature available for free on the internet, with an emphasis on the Reformation and puritan eras. Other periods are included as well.
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About
The technological advance of online libraries (Google Books, Internet Archive, etc.) has opened up opportunities never seen before. We are culling the cream of the crop for you so that you can enjoy the best Christian literature from around the world that has previously been unavailable.
This site is intended to be popular enough for the new Christian and at the same time in-depth enough to be helpful to scholars. If you find the amount and depth of the material to be a bit much, that is good: it is intended to push you further.
The main reason for the focus on works before the early 1900’s is twofold: (1) that is when modern copyright laws put an end to all books being in the public domain, and (2) the classical and defining era of reformed theology and civilization, its high-water mark, was during the puritan era.
See here to Get the Most out of our Site.
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What is Historic, Reformed Christianity?
Historic reformed Christianity is centered on loving God with all our heart, glorifying Him and enjoying Him in all that we do, and loving others more than we do ourselves, through the Gospel of Christ. It means seeking first the Kingdom of God before all else and reforming everything according to the Word of God in dependence upon our Sovereign God.
Historically this vision sprung forth during the Reformation of the 1500’s in Europe, in sinners clinging to the five solas: Scripture Alone, by Faith Alone, by Grace Alone, by Christ Alone, to the Glory of God Alone.
The mature fruit of this Biblical vision was most fully developed in the following generations of the puritan era in the 1600’s. The Westminster Assembly gave to us the greatest and most careful and accurate articulation of Biblical teachings history has yet produced in their Confession of Faith (1646), Shorter and Larger Catechisms, Directory for Public Worship and Form of Presbyterial Church Government. Near the same time the Church of Scotland produced their excellent Directory for Family Worship.
The perspective of this site is that of the majority views of the puritan Christian era (with a minority view argued once and a while), especially as it manifested itself in the Second Reformation in Scotland (1638-1660). There is also a breadth of historical material provided as well, which may be broader. The two main reasons for this are that (1) one can learn much from such material, even while disagreeing with parts of it, and (2) a fuller knowledge of the historical context of reformed Christianity’s classical era greatly illuminates the truth that they held forth and lived by in much greater detail and force.
Little is it known that virtually every question or issue about Christian teaching and life was hammered out in near exhaustive detail by the reformed, according to the Word of God and the light of nature, in the 1600’s (more so than in any other period of Church history). We hope to continue to mine these resources out indefinitely so that persons may have a full persuasion of the detailed teachings of the Word of God, and that the Lord’s Kingdom might be further built in this earth.
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Who Runs this Site?
This site was built by, and is expanded and maintained by Travis Fentiman. He earned a Masters of Divinity from Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (2009), works as a nurse and is a member of a reformed church. He resides with his wife and four children in Vermont, USA. He desires to spend his life bringing people to Christ and nurturing His bride, the Church.
R. Andrew Myers is a contributor to this site. Andrew is a member of the RPCNA, a paralegal by profession, and lives in Virginia with his wife and five precious children. He served as an editor for the Matthew Poole Project for six years and keeps a very interesting and edifying blog related to church history and devotional material entitled Virginia is for Huguenots.
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Picture at the Top:
The forefront book in the picture of old books at the top of this site says Biblia Sacra, which is Latin for ‘The Holy Bible’. God’s Word is the measure by which all else is judged.
“The Word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the Last Day.”
John 12:48
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“Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.”
Rev. 5:13