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Post by Jeffrey Olver on May 2, 2006 8:46:35 GMT -5
No Cross No Crown By William Penn
I'm almost through with this amazing exposition on the Cross of Jesus Christ by William Penn (founder of Pennsylvania).
It was originally written in the late 1700s...yet when he speaks of some of the ungodliness in the 'Church' of his day, it's like reading something written today.
He covers what the cross means to a Christian, what it means to bear the cross, what it meant for the world, and exposes 'fleshy' crosses.
I highly reccomend it.
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Post by victorialewis on May 9, 2006 14:54:26 GMT -5
Jeff, where do you recommend ordering it?
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Post by Jeffrey Olver on May 9, 2006 15:35:01 GMT -5
It was given to me. But you can most likely find it on www.abe.com or Amazon.
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Post by swordsmith on Nov 17, 2007 21:13:36 GMT -5
I've heard this was a good book. Cant say for myself yet.
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Post by mattmisk on Apr 22, 2008 8:22:06 GMT -5
I'm reading this book right now, and it is amazing! You can find it online here: www.gospeltruth.net/Penn/nocrossnocrownIndex.htmSome excerpts from the book: THE great business of man's life is to answer the end for which he lives, and that is to glorify God and save his own soul: this is the decree of Heaven, as old as the world. But so it is, that man mindeth nothing less than what he should most mind, and despiseth to inquire into his own being, its original duty and end; choosing rather to dedicate his days (the steps he should make to blessedness) to gratify the pride, avarice, and luxury of his heart: as if he had been born for himself, or rather given himself being, and so not subject to the reckoning and judgment of a superior power. To this wild and lamentable pass hath poor man brought himself by his disobedience to the law of God in his heart, by doing that which he knows he should not do, and leaving undone what he knows he should do. And as long as this disease continueth upon man he will make his God his enemy, and himself incapable of the love and salvation that He hath manifested, by his Son Jesus Christ, to the world. ...THOUGH the knowledge and obedience of the doctrine of the Cross of Christ be of infinite moment to the souls of men, for that is the only door to true Christianity, and that path the ancients ever trod to blessedness; yet, with extreme affliction let me say, it is so little understood, so much neglected, and, what is worse, so bitterly contradicted by the vanity, superstition, and intemperance of professed Christians, that we must either renounce to believe what the Lord Jesus hath told us, that whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Him, cannot be his disciple (Luke 24: 27); or, admitting that for truth, conclude, that the generality of Christendom do miserably deceive and disappoint themselves in the great business of Christianity, and their own salvation. ...For, let us never be so tender and charitable in the survey of those nations that entitle themselves to any interest in the holy name of Christ, if we will but be just too, we must needs acknowledge, that after all the gracious advantages of light, and obligations to fidelity, which these latter ages of the world have received by the coming, life, doctrine, miracles, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, with the gifts of his Holy Spirit; to which add the writings, labours, and martyrdom of his dear followers in all times, there seems very little left of Christianity but the name; which, being now usurped by the old heathen nature and life, makes the professors of it but true heathens in disguise. For though they worship not the same idols, they worship Christ with the same heart: and they can never do otherwise, whilst they live in the same lusts. So that the unmortified Christian and the heathen are of the same religion. For though they have different objects to which they do direct their prayers, that adoration in both is but forced and ceremonious, and the deity they truly worship is the god of the world, the great lord of lusts: to him they bow with the whole powers of soul and sense. What shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear? And how shall we pass away our time? Which way may we gather wealth, increase our power, enlarge our territories, and dignify and perpetuate our names and families in the earth? Which base sensuality is most pathetically expressed and comprised by the beloved Apostle John in these words: "The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life," which, says he, "are not of the Father, but of the world, that lieth in wickedness" (1 John 2:16).
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Post by Jeffrey Olver on Apr 23, 2008 15:03:36 GMT -5
Towards the end of it, he gets a little nit-picky it seems, regarding the use of "titles" and removing one's hat in greeting - But that was something of great vanity and concern in his day and certainly has it's modern-day parallels.
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