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We intend to provide a selection of Reformed literature on-line. The following items are currently available. Please check back here or at our What's New page from time to time, as we intend to expand our selection.

Christian Doctrine

• The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, by John Owen.  John Owen was a seventeenth century English Puritan pastor.  This book was written as a defense of the doctrines of the Reformed churches on the gospel, the biblical plan of salvation. During Owen's lifetime, certain teachings concerning the nature of the gospel became widespread in Europe that contradicted both the Bible and the doctrines of the Reformed churches.  These doctrines were commonly called Arminianism (after Jacob Hermann (1560-1609), also known according to the Latin form of his last name as Jacob Arminius, a Dutch theological professor who rejected the doctrines of the Reformed churches on the gospel).  The adherents of Arminianism were called Arminians or Remonstrants.  The doctrines of the Arminians were rejected by the Reformed churches at the Synod of Dort which met in 1618 and 1619, in the famous Canons of Dort. Owen's The Death of Death in the Death of Christ focuses on one aspect of Arminian teaching, namely, for whom did Christ die?  This work by Owen is widely considered to be a classis refutation of Arminian teaching, and, while this book by Owen is not easy reading, the Covenant URC is pleased to make it available.
• A Comparison of Dutch Reformed and Scottish Reformed (Presbyterian) Theology. Presbyterian (that is, Scottish Reformed) churches are known to be almost identical to Dutch Reformed churches in their doctrines and practices.  The question often arises, what differences (if any) are there between Presbyterian and Dutch Reformed doctrine?  David Ponter, a Presbyterian scholar living in Australia, examined this issue in an answer that he provided to this very question that was asked on an Internet e-mail discussion group.  The answer that David Ponter provides is that very few differences exist between Presbyterian and Dutch Reformed thinking, and that most of the differences that do exist are in the area of church government.  This e-mail message reproduced here has been posted with the permission of David Ponter and with the permission of the individual who asked the original question.
• The agenda for the second meeting of the URCNA's Classis Midwest contains an appended report that examines the differences between the Presbyterian and Dutch Reformed views of church government in more detail.
• Zacharias Ursinus on Christian Worship. Zacharias Ursinus was the main author of the Heidelberg Catechism, one of our creeds.  This article is a lengthy excerpt from his Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism.  Scottish Reformed (Presbyterian) churches have long taught that we must only perform in worship what God has commanded us to perform in worship - and that we are not supposed to add anything else to worship that God did not command. This teaching is often called "The Regulative Principle of Worship."  The claim is sometimes made that this is a uniquely Presbyterian teaching and that the Dutch Reformed churches have never taught any such thing. This article, written by Ursinus himself, argues that we may perform in worship only what God has commanded us in Scripture to do.  Thus, the Heidelberg Catechism, perhaps the best known of the Dutch Reformed creeds, should be considered to teach what Scottish churches have long called the Regulative Principle of Worship.

Christian Applications of the Internet

The following essays by Gregory Rickmar were printed, in slightly different forms, in 1997 in Christian Renewal, a Reformed magazine published in Canada.  Information on Christian Renewal, including how to subscribe, can be obtained from its editor, John Van Dyk at jvandyk@aol.com.

1. Applications of the Internet for Christian Education
2. Coordination of Christian Ministries
3. Literature Distribution through the Internet
4. The Importance of the Internet to Christianity

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