"It was for this very reason that in Calvin's Geneva you could have been fined or imprisoned for celebrating Christmas.It was at the request of the Westminster Assembly that the English Parliament in 1644 passed an act forbidding the observance of Christmas, calling it a heathen holiday. In an appendix to their 'Directory for the Public Worship of God' the Westminster divines said: 'There is no day commanded in scripture to be kept holy under the gospel but the Lord's day, which is the Christian Sabbath. Festival days, vulgarly called 'Holy-days', having no warrant in the word of God, are not to be continued.' (See also, James Bannerman, The Church of Christ, Vol. 1, pages 406-420). When the Puritans came to America they passed similar laws. The early New Englanders worked steadily through December 25, 1620, in studied neglect of the day. About 40 years later the General Court of Massachusetts decreed punishment for those who kept the season: '...anyone who is found observing, by abstinence from labor, feasting, or any other way, any such days as Christmas Day, shall pay for every such offense five shillings'" (Is Christmas Christian?, https://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualNLs/Xmas_ch2.htm).
Abrogation of Festivals. On Sunday 16 November 1550, after the election of the lieutenant in the general Council, an edict was also announced respecting the abrogation of all the festivals, with the exception of Sundays, which Godhad ordained. – Register of the Company of Pastors (Geneva, 1550).
"All human inventions which are set up to corrupt the simple purity of the Word of God, and to undo the worship which he demands and approves, are true sacrileges, in which the Christian man cannot participate without blaspheming God, and trampling his honour underfoot." - John Calvin, on the Puritan Hard Drive
"The word for Christmas in late Old English is Cristes Maesse, the Mass of Christ... Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church. ... In the Scriptures sinners alone, not saints, celebrate their birthday.
George Gillespie, one of the Scottish Commissioners to the Westminster Assembly, and one of the greatest theologians since the days of the Apostles, writes,
"By communicating with idolaters in their rites and ceremonies, we ourselves become guilty of idolatry; even as Ahaz, 2 Kings 16:10, was an idolater, eo ipso, that he took the pattern of an altar from idolaters. Forasmuch, then, as kneeling before the consecrated bread, the sign of the cross, surplice, festival days (like Christmas-ed.), bishopping, bowing down to the altar, administration of the sacraments in private places, etc., are the wares of Rome, the baggage of Babylon, the trinkets of the whore, the badges of Popery, the ensigns of Christ's enemies, and the very trophies of antichrist, -- we cannot conform, communicate and symbolise with the idolatrous Papists in the use of the same, without making ourselves idolaters by participation. (A Dispute Against English Popish Ceremonies, in Gillespie's Works vol. one, p. 80, SWRB reprint, or as free MP3s atA Dispute Against the English Popish Ceremonies, emphases added).
THE DOCTRINE OF ABSOLUTE PREDESTINATION, BY JEROME ZANCHIUS (FREE SWRB AUDIO BOOK, 10 MP3s) The Doctrine of Absolute Predestination, by Jerome Zanchius (SWRB PDF) "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself,...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
"Now, Christians, the more great and glorious things you expect from God, as the downfall of antichrist, the conversion of the Jews, the conquest of the nations to Christ, the breaking of all yokes, the new Jerusalem's coming down from above, the...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
Emotions, Feelings, Appetites, Anger, Love, Purity, Sex, Lust, Hunger, Health, Etc., by Dr. Steven Dilday (Free MP3) "It is like the treasures that were taken out of Solomon's temple. It is packed with such knowledge, understanding and so much...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
Meta-Information: Impossible For Evolution; Did Cells Write Their Own Software? Top 10 Puritan Hard Drive Reviews (Pubisher: Still Waters Revival Books) An Evolutionary Impossibility: ATP Synthase Rotary Motors In the Cell Membranes Of...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
A "must listen" for all seekers after truth who are interested in what the Bible teaches about holy days.One of the best series of preaching we have heard on holy days, excepting Dr. Dilday's position on headcoverings (see Greg Price's free online...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
Eschatology of Christ's Victory (44 Free Reformation MP3s)"And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
Best Free Sermons On Unconditional Election (TULIP), Helping To Prove Why Arminianism Is Heresy! This is what the Bible teaches: "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
Horrifying & Terrifying Death Bed Scenes Of Atheists, Apostates & Reprobates (1/3, Free MP3s) The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
Double Predestination, Reprobation, How Election Encourages Evangelism, etc. (Free Reformation MP3s, VIdeos, Books, Etc.) "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
