Foolish Talking and Jesting Described and Condemned


Book Description

In this very popular but needful work on foolish talking, Burgess begins with Ephesians 5:4, “Neither foolish talking nor jesting, which are not convenient.” He explains what foolish talk is, and how it can be profane, hypocritical, rash, unsuitable, unseasonable, excessive and uncharitable. Then he explains that foolish jesting is profane, unclean, unnatural, immoral, and immoderate. Finally he ends his treatise with sixteen truths to draw out of the text, and sixteen duties that God presses believers to understand from the text. His goal is that Christians may speak and converse with an end to glorify God and the Savior Jesus Christ, and not follow the way of the foolish jester who is a beast in the eyes of a holy God. This treatise deals with difficult doctrinal truths that Christians often do not want to hear concerning the manner of their speech. It was necessary in Burgess’ day, and he pressed the issue often in his congregation. In our age of post-modernism, liberalism and “free speech” in the media, it is even more important today. This is not a scan or facsimile, has been updated in modern English for easy reading and has an active table of contents for electronic versions.




Uncivil Mirth


Book Description

How the philosophers and polemicists of eighteenth-century Britain used ridicule in the service of religious toleration, abolition, and political justice The relaxing of censorship in Britain at the turn of the eighteenth century led to an explosion of satires, caricatures, and comic hoaxes. This new vogue for ridicule unleashed moral panic and prompted warnings that it would corrupt public debate. But ridicule also had vocal defenders who saw it as a means to expose hypocrisy, unsettle the arrogant, and deflate the powerful. Uncivil Mirth examines how leading thinkers of the period searched for a humane form of ridicule, one that served the causes of religious toleration, the abolition of the slave trade, and the dismantling of patriarchal power. Ross Carroll brings to life a tumultuous age in which the place of ridicule in public life was subjected to unparalleled scrutiny. He shows how the Third Earl of Shaftesbury, far from accepting ridicule as an unfortunate byproduct of free public debate, refashioned it into a check on pretension and authority. Drawing on philosophical treatises, political pamphlets, and conduct manuals of the time, Carroll examines how David Hume, Mary Wollstonecraft, and others who came after Shaftesbury debated the value of ridicule in the fight against intolerance, fanaticism, and hubris. Casting Enlightenment Britain in an entirely new light, Uncivil Mirth demonstrates how the Age of Reason was also an Age of Ridicule, and speaks to our current anxieties about the lack of civility in public debate.




Joseph's Resolve and the Unreasonableness of Sinning Against God


Book Description

One of the greatest depictions of God’s providence in Scripture is the historical narrative of Joseph, who was sold into slavery, and worked under Potiphar, the chief steward of Pharaoh. Within the course of this narrative, while Joseph is in his house, Potiphar’s wife comes to him many times to lure him off to sin in one of the most bold and forthright temptations to be recorded anywhere in the Bible. She had longing, wandering eyes and comes to tempt him, assaulting him, “day by day,” constantly, and audaciously. Joseph’s reaction to this wicked assault is an instant refusal to the temptation. “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9). What biblical directives can be found in this amazing statement of holiness and godliness? From this one text McMahon meticulously explains how Joseph’s victory over temptation against Potiphar’s wife can be used by the believer today for their own victory to the glory of Jesus Christ. Christians need to be prepared to deal with temptation in a manner in which they will be victorious in the power of Christ’s Spirit. But they can only do this if they understand what Joseph understood in regards to God, temptation and the heinous nature of sin. He covers such topics as: the great evil of sin, the relationship between sin and God’s holiness, how to live faithfully before God’s omniscience and omnipresence, the nature and character of temptation, what it means to resist temptations, how holy fear aids the Christian in light of temptation, what the Spirit works in a Christian motioning them to holiness, how one can cultivate a sensitivity to the Spirit’s work, the inconsistency in sinning against God, how usefulness in God’s kingdom is linked to holiness, the power of Christ’s Gospel as the full remedy to temptation and sin, as well as a number of other important considerations. (He also includes a study on the “hedge of protection” that is mentioned in Job 1:10 as an appendix to the work.) This book faithfully explains and applies Genesis 39:9 demonstrating Joseph’s godly resolve and the unreasonableness of sinning against God. Here you will find what steps you can take, following devout Joseph, to keep yourself from falling into sin through the craftiness of temptation, that you may bring the most glory to Jesus Christ in your walk before God.













Light from Old Paths: An Anthology of Puritan Quotations, Volume 1


Book Description

This book is a masterful selection of almost 1000 quotations drawn from a wide range of Puritan works. These quotes have been chosen with great care, and arranged under topical headings from "belief" to "worship". This work forms an ideal introduction to the writings of the godly men of the 17th century, and will prove to be rich devotional reading of the highest caliber. For those being introduced to the writings of the Puritans, or those who are already familiar with them, this devotional work will be a treasure to read again and again. The reading of Puritan works has brought great benefit to the people of God across barriers of culture and time. Christians owe a great debt of gratitude to those faithful theologians, pastors and preachers who continue to speak through their writings even though they have long since entered into their heavenly rest in Christ. In these pages, the reader will find that the Puritans knew how to teach and apply God’s Word in the power of the Holy Spirit, and for the glorification of Jesus Christ, while maintaining a solid biblical orthodoxy needed in our day and age. The purpose of this book is to open a door to the vast stores of biblical treasure and wisdom to be found in the writings of the Puritans and that it will stimulate further reading from our Reformed and spiritual heritage. Authors cited include: Nathaniel Vincent, George Walker, Francis Whiddon, William Perkins, Christopher Love, Thomas Hooker, Jeremiah Burroughs, Thomas Case, Jonathan Edwards, Matthew Mead, John Owen, Richard Sibbes, Samuel Ward, Thomas Watson, Thomas Mocket, Ephraim Pagitt, Edmund Calamy, John Arrowsmith, Cuthbert Sydenham, John Beart, Richard Rawlin, Nicholas Byfield, and dozens more. This work is not a scan or facsimile, has been carefully transcribed by hand being made easy to read in modern English, and has an active table of contents for electronic versions.







Directions for Daily Holy Living


Book Description

Burgess’ book is not a checklist. The Christian cannot simply check off a list a number of items to be better in prayer, bible study, worship, or any other spiritual discipline simply because they follow his advice. Burgess will show that in all those spiritual duties which the Christian is commanded by God to accomplish, that it is all a matter of the heart as well as the head. It is not about a checklist. The Christian can’t check off, “get your heart right before God.” They can’t check off, “make your mind more consecrated to God in the morning.” They can’t check off, “improve your use of the holy sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.” They can’t check off, “receive the faithful minister’s words when he preaches as God’s own words.” These ideas are bigger, far bigger, than a check box. They are heart issues, salvation issues, regeneration issues, truly, Christian issues. But, Burgess will aid the reader in taking these “holy directions” and show how to think rightly about them in applying them in their everyday life. These issues are not something one can take or leave. They deal with Scripture, prayer, enemy love, hearing the word, and much more. God is not looking for Christians to make a check mark on a checklist. He is looking for them to be arrested by the Spirit of God for the glory of Christ and be able to say “My heart shall stir me up, my spirit shall make me willing,” (Exodus 35:21), yes, willing to be conformed to Christ for the glory of God. This work is not a scan or facsimile, has been carefully transcribed by hand being made easy to read in modern English, and has an active table of contents for electronic versions.