The Great Concern – Now Available!

Edward Pearse (c.1633–1674) was a Puritan pastor in London during a period of immense political and social upheaval in England. He died at forty of tuberculosis, but during his final months, he wrote this book as a guide to his congregation, in order to direct them to life’s one ‘great concern,’ namely, “to have all things set right, well-ordered, and composed in the matters of the soul before leaving this world.” With wonderful clarity, the author shows how putting the spiritual concerns of the soul into the best posture possible for the hour of death is in actuality the key to living an abundant, God-honoring life. Or as Pearse explains:

“It is to fill up our time with duty, and our duties with grace; to use the time which is given to us in the pursuit of these ends—not to eat, drink, and please ourselves with creature comforts—but to serve and honor the Creator, to work out our salvation, to become acquainted with God and Christ, and to ensure ourselves of heaven and a blessed eternity.”

This edition includes a biographical preface and review questions designed to facilitate group discussion or personal reflection.

Paperback (Amazon) $14.99
eBook (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, AppleGoogle Play, Kobo, Lulu) $4.99

The Heavenward Way – Now Available!

Now reprinted for your enjoyment is The Heavenward Way, a collection of four treatises that helpfully outline the life of faith in a believer. Here Christopher Blackwood (c.1605–1669) brings into sharp focus the essential priorities of the life of faith: first, learning to recognize and treasure the precious worth of Jesus Christ (and by contrast, the dangers associated with not having true love for him); next, honoring God by loving our neighbor as ourselves; and finally, living our lives in such a way that we are well-prepared for death.

It includes a biographical preface, helpful footnotes, and review questions designed to help facilitate group discussion or personal reflection. Scripture references are embedded in the text as well.

Available in e-book format: KindleNookiBooksGoogle PlayKoboLulu (ISBN 9781678017347, MSRP $2.99).

Puritan Thumb-Drive

So this would really scratch my OCD itch… For quite some time I have had the idea of taking all the best PDFs I can find of the authors represented on these pages and putting them into an organized format, interlinked from a bookmarked PDF file which serves as a directory.  This would allow us to have at our fingertips the works of the Puritans on a tablet or phone, with no internet connection or downloading.  A real bonus would be to include the Scripture and topical indices as well.  Running background OCR will allow searching for text phrases, to some degree.  Certain tablets will allow highlighting, underlining, and other note-taking as well.

I am thinking that this could be updated each year as the library of files was improved and expanded.  I know several others have done similar things like this in the past.  The difference is, this is going to be FREE (less the cost of the memory card).  If you’d like to get involved in this project, drop me a line and I’ll keep you in mind when I start on this in earnest.  I doubt this will come to fruition soon, unless there are a lot of helpers.  But someday!

I know someone will ask this, so I’ll give you the current stats:

  • 5,601 files (however this also includes text files, epubs, mobi files, and PDFs I am not allowed to share)
  • 34.5 gigabytes

Interactive Map of London, c.1561

agas-map-sample

The Agas Map of London, c.1561

This morning as I was preparing a biographical preface for Obadiah Sedgwick, I was reading about one of the churches he served in, and in doing some research on the internet, found this wonderful interactive map of the city of London, circa 1561.  Called the Agas Map, it is an exquisitely detailed drawing which has been overlaid with information that helps the user quickly pinpoint major landmarks (including churches) in the city.  Very helpful and worth bookmarking.  You can find it here or by clicking the picture above.

Read Digital Puritan Resouces Anywhere You Go

Ekvall_Knut_The_Reading_LessonDid you know that if you use Google’s Chrome web browser, you can install an extension that will allow you to collect and read e-Pub files (like those found on our website) anywhere you go? The extension, called Readium, can be found here. It is super-simple to install, and there is no setup or account creation. If you are signed in to Chrome, it translates across any devices you have that use Chrome (laptop, desktop, tablet, phone, work computer) automagically. Happy reading!