Articles of Interest

Articles of Interest
(Mostly from The Blue Banner)

First Presbyterian Church of Rowlett, TX and the successor name, Faith Presbyterian Church Reformed of Mesquite, TX have published thousands of pages of articles since 1992. Early in 1990 FPCR began what we called "The Blue Banner BBS" or Bulletin Board System. We had zipped text files back in those days of 1200 baud connections. We took our BBS onto the internet via the old FIDO messaging system and eventually we went directly to the internet with the registration of our domain name in 1996. We have been the clearing house for literally "gigabytes" of articles over the past 18 years. This has made it very difficult for us to keep all the articles in an easily and intuitively arranged filing system online. Below you will find our most recent attempt to do this. Although it may appear from our first page that we are still hosting audio, the fact is we link to our audio which is hosted at the SermonAudio website of Stephen Lee. Thus all the storage here at FPCR.ORG is taken up with PDF formatted e-books and other PDF and HTML articles that we believe to be of some enduring interest to the Christian or Reformed public. Some are original or were written for The Blue Banner. Others are public domain, are used by permission, or are classics that we believe deserve to remain available.

The interactive buttons below, arranged in groups of six, are marked in such a way as to give the reader an idea of what subject will be covered in the portion of the directory to which that button links. Once the reader gets to the portion of the directory page dealing with that subject, the articles are listed as links either to the whole article or to the table of contents for the article in the case of longer ones. Click on the title of the article, which is usually in italics, and your browser will be pointed to the top of the article in question. If you wish to open a second window, you may "right click" and choose that option and the article will be opened in a new iteration of your browser.

If you have any suggestions as to how we might better organize these articles, please let us know by writing to: webmaster.

Articles On Church & State

Goliath's Sword In Righteous Hands, Dr. Richard Bacon

Josiah Vs. Erastianism, Al Hembd

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Tyranny In Tyler: A Response to James Jordan, Editor The Blue Banner

Articles On Education

Importance Of Education For Covenant Children, Dr. Richard Bacon

No Neutral Ground, Dr. Richard Bacon

Public Education, J. Gresham Machen

Articles On Ecclesiology

The Old Testament Sanhedrin, Dr. Richard Bacon

Select Thoughts On The Temple, Dr. Richard Bacon

Select Thoughts On The Synagogue, Dr. Richard Bacon

Built Upon The Rock, Dr. W. Gary Crampton & Richard Bacon

The Ministerial Assembly, Samuel Rutherford (update by Dr. Bacon)

Five Short Essays, Dr. Richard Bacon & Dr. Edwin Elliott

Simplicity, Scripture, And A Three-Legged Stool

Christian Liberty

Jesus Versus The Rabbis

Liberty Of Conscience

Exchange Of Records

Constituting True Churches, James Durham

Answers To PCA Consensus, various authors. This series of articles is of some historical interest, in that it answers a document that sought to restructure the Presbyterian Church in America in 1992. However, the principles set forth in the six individual articles (links from the booklet) are of abiding interest for the subjects of worship, missions, polity, etc.

Articles On The Family

Keeping A Father's Commandments, Dr. Bacon

Finding A Life Partner: Dating #1, Dr. Bacon

Dangers Of Dating: Dating #2, Dr. Bacon

Dating Vs. Courtship: Dating #3, Dr. Bacon

Articles On Images And Pictures Of Christ

Indifferent Imaginations, Chris Coldwell

Unlawful Imaginations, Chris Coldwell

Additional Material, compiled by Dr. Bacon and Mr. Coldwell

Last Temptation Of Christ, Session of FPCR

Article On Christ's Mediatorial Kingdom

The Mediatorial Kingdom And Glories of Jesus Christ, Samuel Davies

Articles On Sacraments And Worship

Judas And The Lord's Supper, George Gillespie

Critique Of Schlissel's "Informed Principle Of Worship," G. I. Williamson

Frequency Of Communion, Dr. Bacon

Objections To Paedobaptism Answered (Outline), Dr. Bacon

Use Of A Table In Communion, James Begg This article by Begg is divided into seven sections. This link will take you to the table of contents for the entire article. Once you have reached the table of contents, everything from the Introduction to the Conclusion has its own link.

Use Of Headcoverings In Worship, Dr. Bacon At the time this lesson was taught, Dr. Bacon was concerned with demonstrating that women should be covered and men should be uncovered in public worship. This article deals with that subject. The principles that Dr. Bacon teaches in this article, however, are as much applicable to private and family worship as they are to congregational worship.

Public Worship: When And Why Public Worship Is Preferable To Private Worship, David Clarkson

Scriptural Worship, Dr. Carl Bogue

A Day In Zion, Text Of A FPCR Worship Service The purpose of including this 1994 worship service text is to give a "feel" for what a worship service is like at FPCR. At this time, the worship services follow an almost identical format and order as A Day In Zion, but baptisms take place only when appropriate. When baptisms do take place, it is commonly the subject of the sermon.

Beyond Canterbury: A Review Of "Liturgical Nestorianism," Dr. Bacon

Trapped In The Liturgy Trap, Rev. Greg Price

Notable Problems, Rev. Timothy Worrell

Articles On Psalmody

Hints For Using The Comprehensive Psalter, Dr. Tim Baker

Psalms Or Hymns In Public Worship, Rev. Hugh Cartwright This short article is copyright Free Presbyterian Magazine and used by permission. In it Rev. Cartwright offers a critical review of Ian Murray's pamphlet, "Should The Psalter Be The Only Hymnal Of The Church?"

Singing The Name Of Jesus, Dr. Bacon

Psalm Singing Remembered, LaVerne Rosenberger

Objections: Do We Sing Paraphrases?, Dr. Bacon

New Songs Of Zion, Michael Bushell This article is an excerpt from Mr. Bushell's book on Exclusive Psalmody entitled The Songs of Zion. The book is copyright ©1977 by Michael S. Bushell and this excerpt is used by permission of the author. The book may be purchased from Crown & Covenant Publications, 7408 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15208-2531 (http://www.psalms4u.com).

Debate On Psalmody, Dr. Bacon and Dr. W. Gary Crampton

Objections: Ten More Objections Answered, Dr. Bacon

Worship Song Regulated By Scripture, Dr. Bacon

Psalms, Hymns, And Spiritual Songs, Dr. Bacon This is a short and extemporaneous explanation of Ephesians 5:19 given many years ago in Rowlett, TX

Calvin's Preface To The Psalter (1543), John Calvin

Westminster And Lining The Psalms, Chris Coldwell

Articles On Musical Instruments

Instrumental Music In The Public Worship Of The Church, John Girardeau

Musical Instruments In Psalm 150 and Update, Dr. Bacon

Instrumental Music In Religious Worship, Rev. John M'Donald

A Debate Over The Use Of The Organ, A series of articles from 1849

Dabney's Review of Girardeau, Dr. Robert Dabney's 1889 review of the first article in this subject group