Coldwell, Chris

Articles

Additional Material on Images of Christ, 1998, 42 paragraphs, a compilation of excerpts from 16 church history writers and documents on the subject

Includes quotes from the Second Helvetic Confession, Heidelberg Catechims, Westminster Confession, Calvin, Bradford, Flavel, Ridgeley, Henry, Irenaeus, Epiphanius, Synod of Constantinople, Rushdoony, Cummings, Boettner, Williamson, and Murray

The Anonymous Writings of George Gillespie: A Defense of Authorship, 1997, 41 pages

Defends that Gillespie wrote four anonymous writings, most notably Wholesome Severity Reconciled with Christian Liberty

‘Did Calvin Bowl on the Sabbath?  or Calvin in the Hands of the Philistines’  1998  72 paragraphs

Some have claimed that Calvin went lawn bowling on the Sabbath, however this claim did not appear until 1824, and that only in an anti-Calvin and anti-Sabbatarian work.  Needless to say there is no historical documentation for such a claim and it goes against the direct words of Calvin. 

Images of Christ: Indifferent Imaginations?  1996, 40 paragraphs  

Can images of Christ be regarded as indifferent, and thus allowed in a public meeting place of a church, if they are offensive to some Christians?  The Biblical answer is no.  Here is one church’s attempt to petition a presbytery to take down such images.

Images of Christ: a Violation of the Second Commandment, 1996, 34 paragraphs, a compilation of six historic writers on the subject

Here are excerpts on the topic from J. Marcellus Kik, John Murray, Fisher’s Catechism, James Durham and Loraine Boettner

The Intent of the Westminster Larger Catechism #109 Regarding Pictures of Christ’s Humanityfrom the Confessional Presbyterian Journal, #5 (2009),  Buy  p. 227-228, 323, 9 paragraphs

Chris Coldwell demonstrates that the Larger Catechism forbids images of the Son of God, contrary to a rising tide in the church who deny such.

The Religious Observance of Christmas and ‘Holy Days’ in American Presbyterianism, HTML, 1999, 109 paragraphs, lengthy article indexed by section

Christmas used to be outlawed by the American puritans as part of the false worship of Roman Catholicism.  In the early 1800’s Samuel Miller could still write, “Presbyterians do not observe holy days.”  By the mid to late-1800’s the tide began to turn.  How did this happen?  Was greater light derived from the scriptures?  Or was it due to worldliness and backsliding?  Read here to find out.

The Westminster Assembly & the Judicial Law: A Chronological Compilation and Analysis. Part One: Chronology,  Buy  from the Confessional Presbyterian Journal, #5 (2009), p. 3-55

This is an exhaustive bibliography of the writings during the Assembly period touching on the Judicial Laws. 

The Westminster Directory for Public Worship and the Lining of the Psalms, HTML, 1998, 10 paragraphs

The Directory for Public Worship mentions “lining out the psalms”, where the leader would stop after each line and say the following line before singing it.  This was done for the help of those who could not read, but is not a binding part of the Directory.  This article very helpfully shows from the primary sources that the Directory was not intended as a High Church liturgy, but as a guide.

Where Did the Term ‘Regulative Principle of Worship’ Come From?  2014, 30 paragraphs, this is a post at the Puritan Board, the third one down on the page.

Coldwell documents the idea of the Regulative Principle of Worship from 30 primary sources since the Reformation, though the popularization of the term appears to have been most concretely popularized by John Murray’s 1946, OPC Minority Report on Psalm Singing.