Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism Let me just say something about the Table of Contents for this book. Frankly, it's not good. The only links in the TOC that you can click are the actual "Questions," around which the commentary is organized. Though it appears you can click links to follow the sub-headings, the links are no good. The book itself is good, and the contents are solid, but the TOC... a second rate performance, on my part. Enjoy, nonetheless!
Another freebie that I made for myself ages ago. Tim Challies is about to start doing a readthrough of this book, so I thought I might share it with you all.
This is in .mobi format and works on the Kindle. Just download it to your "documents" folder when you plug your Kindle in. Also, if you appreciate the free book, then please visit our sponsor, Westminster Books. When you follow the link, we get credits to the bookstore so that we can buy more great books to talk about here on the blog.
Here it is - the creme de la creme - some of the hardest books to find on the net - the works of William Perkins in legible English, and all ready for reading on your Kindle.
More Puritan Reading for your pleasure. Actually, we got a little broader than just the Puritans here, but I'm sure you'll forgive. My apologies: although most of these books have working Tables of Contents, not all of them do, for example, Samuel Rutherford's Letters does not have a working Table of Contents. As always, these are Kindle ready, just put them in your Kindle's "Documents" folder.
I have made it a habit of creating lots and lots of books, but up until this time I've just used them for myself, since I've had no way of sharing them and hosting the files. To the best of my knowledge, all of the books I am sharing are public domain works and therefore free to distribute. Here is the first batch:
"But his delight is in the law of the Lord... He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither." (Psalm 1:3)
"Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of the street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." (Revelation 22:1-2)
Here is something I've been thinking about with reference to these two verses. I'm not actually taking a stand here and arguing that this is the case, but I want to bounce this idea off of our readers and see what everyone thinks, because I can't find anyone who has ever discussed the relationship between these verses before.
There seems to be an allusion to Psalm 1:3 in the tree of life section of Revelation which I want to understand, but I can't find any commentaries that observe the connection. I'm defining an 'allusion' as when the New Testament refers to the Old Testament using similar imagery and language.
Look at the common features between the two:
The river
The location of the tree
The seasonableness of the fruit
The mention of the tree's leaves.
Chronologically they are structured the same: (River & Tree, Fruit, Leaves)
Another connection to keep in mind is the eschatalogical natures of Psalm 1 and Revelation 22. The first half of Psalm 1 describes the blessedness of the man who delights in the Lord. But the second half is a contrast where the wicked are described as chaff "which the wind drives away." It is said in verse 5 that the "wicked will not stand in the judgment."
No doubt, as most commentators point out, the river is a reference to Zechariah 14:8. However, there are many mentions of the tree of life in scripture to one degree or another, but none so clear and pronouncedly similar as these two references. As I see it, there are a few possibilities for understanding the nature of a relationship between Psalm 1 and Rev. 22:
The author of Revelation was offering the fullest description of the tree of life possible and found that imagery in Psalm 1:3 but attached no significance meaning beyond imagery.
Since Psalm 1:3 is a reference to the believer, then perhaps Revelation 22 is referring to the Church as the tree.
The parallel usage of the imagery of Psalm 1:3 is coincidental.
The imagery is drawn from many passages (Genesis 2:9-10, Ezekiel 47:12, and Psalm 1:3).
I cannot find any commentaries that see a connection between Rev. 22 and Psalm 1:3, and yet to me it seems undeniable. Option 3 seems completely out of the question. For my own part, I favor the fourth option. It seems to me that the Apostle John, in writing Revelation, was in fact, echoing the description of the tree of Genesis 2:10 but using the description from Psalm 1:3. The question is, how deep is the connection meant to go? The question really is, does the context of Psalm 1:3 carry over when it is quoted by the Apostle John? I guess I'm not prepared to say one way or the other, but if the context did carry over, then Revelation 22 is saying that the Church will be firmly planted along the river of life which flows from the throne, and the church would be bearing fruit for the healing of all the nations. Such an understanding has many applications:
The permanence of the Church's place in the new creation.
God is the source of her life and fruit.
The Church continues to glorify God in her fruitfulness.
Applying the eschatalogical nature of Psalm 1 to the tree of life also shows, once again, that the Church has endured while the wicked were carried away like chaff, just as was promised in Psalm 1. God has kept his promise to save His Church and to carry away the wicked in judgment.
I don't necessarily think that this interpretation is harmed by 22:14 which says that the blessed will "have the right to the tree of life." It is possible for the Church to be the tree of life and for the blessed individuals to have the right to that tree.
If someone else has a better understanding of these two verses, I would love to hear it. This is the best I could do without a commentary helping me out. Either way, doesn't it seem like there is enough of a similarity between these two verses that at least someone would have at least mentioned this in a commentary at some point?
Black Death enjoyed a very limited release in theaters, and very quickly appeared on DVD and Blu-Ray. I was initially a little reticent to see Black Death. Uber-gritty, gory horror-type films just aren't up my alley, and I must admit that after reading some reviews of this film, I decided that this movie was something more than just a cheap exploitation flick. Plus, it looked a little bit like that awful Nick Cage movie Season of the Witch. I went into this film still expecting a disgusting, thoughtless movie and left having enjoyed a complex exploration of religious violence and the things that motivate people - Christian and pagan alike.
[The following trailer has what I would call "PG" language in it at the very beginning]
That's not to say that this film by Christopher Smith is interested in accurately representing the theological motivations of 14th century witch hunters, or that the film is a fair exploration of plague-era European paganism. Instead, this is a movie about the reality that every time we think we find the penultimate wickedness within another, we miss that it is really within our own hearts to at least the same degree.
In the movie, which takes place during the height of the plague, the knight Ulrich is sent by the Church to investigate a village on the edge of a swampland that has not been touched by the plague. Supposedly, the village may be using black magic to keep the disease from encroaching on their town. A monk named Osmund joins the journey, and interestingly enough, he does fit one of the five categories that Think Christian identify as the pastors that you meet in films. I would say he ends up fitting in the "lapsed" category.
[Quasi-Spoilers Follow]
The film follows the journey of this band of warrior saints as they travel to the village and as they discover exactly what they thought they would find - a village of pagans who believe that killing Christians is what has kept the plague at bay. Their leader is a woman who has made them to believe that she has the power to raise the dead as a necromancer. What follows is a torturous final half-hour where the men are taken one-by one and offered chances to renounce the Holy Trinity and be spared.
If you're the type to only watch movies where Christians behave ideally, then this isn't your movie. There are no heroes in this film. The knights are murderous, quick to kill, profane and yet dedicated fundamentalists - the bad kind. The pagans are themselves murderous, blasphemers, openly enemies of God. So in the film who do you root for - the hypocritical Christians or the pagans? Well, neither. Many Christians will disagree with my tolerance for corruption in Christian characters in this movie. However, we don't go to movies to see perfect people in action - we go to see something that reflects the world we live in, that we can relate to. If you're looking for a hero, go to the Gospels and look at Jesus. It's a fact that much of Church history, many Christians have not met his example. We ought not to deny or shy away from this fact.
In the case of Black Death, this film pits one form of fundamentalism against another and shows that if Christians fight the world using the world's weapons, they may win, but their whole cause will be shipwrecked. What is the point in a man who nobly refuses to recant if, after he survives, he lives to murder a hundred women as "witches" out of vengeance? Where is the virtue in a village that lives at peace and yet openly mocks and blasphemes the God of Heaven? In this film, everyone is a loser. I guess I'm okay with that portrayal, since I'm a Calvinist. Humanity's heart is dark and desperately wicked. No doubt the sort of atrocities we see in this film occurred in some form or another throughout history. This is not a condemnation of the Church, in my opinion, but a condemnation of mankind.
Here is my caution: the movie is grisly and gory. It's a hard "R" rating. There is some language. It isn't Pulp Fiction, but it's not The Care Bears, either. There is no sex or nudity, but once again, things get very violent. Heads get chopped off, limbs are torn off, and it is done in a brutal fashion - very much unlike the PG-13 violence in Lord of the Rings. This movie tells a thought-provoking story that will give thinking Christians plenty to chew on, but churches aren't exactly going to rent out whole theaters to watch this movie. Put another way: this film is not the next Fireproof.
I have no idea how long this is going on for, but right now, you can get 45% off any volume from the Reformed Expository Commentary series. Some of them cost less than $10.00 right now, and I don't know how long the prices are going to stay down like this.
Would sentimentalism and saccharine emotions dominate congregations if they realized that a person is baptized into the death of Christ? Would characterizations of baptism solely as man's pledge to God dominate if churches realized that baptism is God's visible covenant promise when accompanied by the Word? Would as many languish in their struggles with a lack of assurance were their baptisms to echo throughout their lives - the echo of the sign and seal of the covenant promises of God in Christ? Would so many flippantly approach baptism or disregard it if they recognized that it is the objective, double-edged, blessing-and-sanction revelation of God? A biblical doctrine of baptism is crucial for the edification of the church and the glory of the triune Lord.
Madam,-I would have written to your Ladyship ere now, but people's believing there is in me that which I know there is not, hath put me out of love with writing to any. For it is easy to put religion to a market and public fair; but, alas! it is not so soon made eye-sweet for Christ.
My Lord seeth me a tired man, far behind. I have gotten much love from Christ, but I give Him little or none again. My white side cometh out on paper to men; but at home and within I find much black work, and great cause of a low sail, and of little boasting...My peace is that Christ may find outing and sale of His wares, in the like of me; I mean for saving grace.
Tim Challies actually wrote a review of this book, giving it four out of five stars. Here was his recommendation of the book:
Perhaps the greatest strength of this book is Miller's unrelenting emphasis that prayer cannot be an add-on to the Christian life; it cannot be supplemental but must always be instrumental. This book will equip you to understand prayer properly and, on that firm foundation, to commit yourself to it, with confidence that God is willing and able to hear and answer your prayers.
According to another reviewer,
[Miller] honestly and precisely identifies the barriers to prayer - a short attention span, guilt, inconsistency, and weak attempts to follow a formula that would somehow make my prayers acceptable to God. Yet his winsome way of presenting these problems are not a condemnation of our failures, but are actually an encouragement not to give up.
I'm always joking that I'm borderline ADD, so perhaps this book will have some helpful encouragements for me in the area of paying attention when I'm trying to pray.
As always, you can download the book to your wireless device or your computer itself and read it, even if you don't have a Kindle.
Christian Audio has The Next Story by Tim Challies for free. If you've got kids like me, it's sometimes hard to get any books read, and that's why audiobooks are such a treasure. I am currently reading the physical hardback copy of the book (which you can still find at Westminster for 36% off). I'm about a hundred pages in or so, and plan on writing my own review in the near future. So far in the book, I've read Tim's history of technology, and especially social networking and found his assessment of the place of technology in God's world to be very edifying. I highly recommend this book - from what I've read, anyway.
