God In the Whirlwind - David Wells

  "However it happened, the external God has now disappeared and has been replaced by the internal God.  Transcendence has been swallowed up by immanence.  God is to be found only within the self.  And once that happened, the boundary between right and wrong - at least as we had thought about these things - went down like a row of falling skittles.  Evil and redemption came to be seen as the two sides of the same coin, not the two alternatives in life."  Or as he also put it, "We want God's love without his holiness…"   Wells addresses this erroneous viewpoint by explaining who God really is, and what His love is really like.  I really liked his critique of our culture, how it has a 'therapeutic vision'.  As Wells indicates, sadly, the 'church' has been going this way as well, following the spirit of the age they adapt the gospel to be about the fulfillment of our needs, our self-promotion and about our happiness now.  The church needs to actually live like a community of 'aliens' and 'strangers' not assimilating the cultures of this world but living as citizens of Heaven, proclaiming God's Word accurately.  We are to live as sanctified people, not worldly ones, as Wells puts it, we are to "work out what God, in his grace, has worked in" us, living as citizens of Heaven.   
God in the Whirlwind by David Wells is an explanation of God's holy love, how God is so different, even opposite, from how our society has imagined Him to be.

I'm sorry to say that there are several things in the books that prevent me from giving this book a higher rating.  First, the author's view of Israel and covenant theology, or reformed theology bothered me too much, .  I have read books before where I have disagreed with the author's 'Reformed' eschatology and yet have still liked the book, but that was not the case with this one.  Here are a couple of instances, first, his statement that"…Paul argued that being a 'Jew' was no longer a matter of ethnicity….'is one inwardly…(Romans 2:29)' The logic here is inescapable.  Those who have been justified on the basis of Christ's work, be they Jew or Gentile, constitute the one 'Israel of God'(Gal. 6:16)"   Yes, being a Jew was not JUST a matter of ethnicity but it includes ethnicity, the true remnant of Israel is the elect descendants of Israel, the Israel of God.  But Israel never becomes Jews and Gentiles.  The Bible does not teach this.  Jews and Gentiles do not cease to become ethnically Jews and Gentiles before God and on this earth just because they are united in salvation.  Just as men and women do not cease to be men and women before God and on this earth because they are united in salvation.  God saves Jews, Gentiles, men and women indiscriminately, He has not chosen to save only one people group, like the Jews, or one sex, or only people who are not slaves, He saves all kinds of people Galatians 3:28. 

Another instance is the author's view of types….for example, he thinks that the Exodus of Israel from Egypt is a type of Christ and  his work.  I just don't see that connection made in the Bible, rather if there is any pictorial connection, I see the event mentioned in support of the view that God will one day bring all of the physical descendants of Israel back to their land(Jeremiah 16:14-15) and that they will be able to stay there because, unlike the first exodus of Israel and the Mosaic covenant God made with them, God will make their hearts new, will make the new covenant with them(Jer. 31:31-35,Ezek. 36:22-38).   So when this mass exodus(initiated by God) from the countries where they have been scattered happens, they will return to their land for good(Amos 9: 14-15)because they will then be righteous, which was the requirement for their staying in the land.(Ezek. 36:22-38).

Besides the eschatology/Reformed typological view that kept clouding things, it was also mentioned three times that Abraham stumbled over the promises of God.  This view is blatantly contradicted by Romans 4:20-21, speaking of Abraham, "yet, looking unto the promise of God, he wavered not through unbelief, but waxed strong through faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was able also to perform." Even in the event with Hagar, God's word does not say that that was a wavering of belief on Abraham's part.  Of course, he was mistaken in how God would give him an heir, but it does not seem as though he struggled with unbelief of the promise. 

To sum this up, these things, especially the typological views, just bothered me too much and were too distracting so I can only give this book three stars. 

I'll end with one of the quotes/points that I Iiked, here he is critiquing recent and modern society, "When God was displaced from the center of life, revelation was replaced by natural reason, salvation by psychology and eschatology by social progress.  However, even as this worldview was becoming dominant, it also began to disintegrate……What has lingered on is the substitution of psychology for salvation, and therefore the main thread of continuity across these decades, the thread that links the older modernist culture and our current postmodern culture, is the autonomous self.  This is the self, the person in his or her inner being who is unrestrained by the past, by any authority, or social convention, or community, or any truth as something other than his or her own private opinion.  They are not restrained by any God external to themselves.  This is what our culture is validating all the time." 

Many thanks to Crossway for sending me a free review ebook(My review did not have to be favorable).

 

This book may also be purchased at Amazon.com

 

 

The New Answers Book 4 - Edited by Ken Ham (General Editor)

http://www.nlpg.com/the-new-answers-book-4

The interpretation of the Bible's account of Creation through the lens of science seems to be a popular thing amongst professing Christians nowadays.  This is a very discouraging state of things, that Christians trust human observations before the Bible's declarations.  That is one reason why this book is so refreshing as the authors hold to God's Word as the starting point and as the 'lens' with which to interpret their scientific observations.   

The interpretation of the Bible's account of Creation through the lens of science seems to be a popular thing amongst professing Christians nowadays.

The New Answers book 4 by Ken Ham(editor) and many others, is full of chapters dealing with questions in regards to 'issues' that may come up in discussions about Creation, and is also great for simply perusing possible answers as to how certain things about Creation week might be explained.  It is a compilation of several essays on various aspects of Creation written by several different people who are biased towards the Bible.  The nice thing is that they do not make having answers to every question imperative, such as the chapters on Starlight.  They make some suggestions as to how starlight could have been visible from earth immediately at Creation but make it clear that we don't have to know how,  faith in what God's Word says is what is important, whether or not we understand it all.  As one of the contributors wrote, "Interpretations of Scripture are Not Scripture….Keep in mind that it is the text that is inspired, not our interpretations of it." 
 

Keep in mind that this is book 4 in the New Answers series so if you have questions that are not addressed in this volume they may be in the other books in this series.  I have not read the other ones but, based on what this one is like, I believe that I can highly recommend all of them as they seem very biased towards what God says happened at Creation.  I love that type of bias!!!   

 I'll end with an excerpt from the beginning of the book:  "As soon as you surrender the Bible's authority in one area, you 'unlock a door' to do the same thing in other areas.  Once the door of compromise is open, even if ajar just a little, subsequent generation push the door open wider.  Ultimately, this compromise has been a major contributing factor in the loss of biblical authority in our Western world….…If one uses fallible dating methods to reinterpret Genesis (e.g., the days of creation), then one is 'unlocking a door,' so to speak, to teach others that they won't have to take the Bible as written (e.g., Genesis is historical narrative) a the beginning so why should one take it as written elsewhere (e.g., the bodily Resurrection of Christ).  If one has to accept what secular scientists say about the age of the earth, evolution, etc., then why not reinterpret the Resurrection of Christ?  After all, no secular scientist accepts that a human being can be raised from the dead, so maybe the Resurrection should be reinterpreted to mean just 'spiritual resurrection'."

 

Many thanks to New Leaf Publishers for sending me a free Kindle review copy of this book (My review did not have to be favorable) -  published by Master Books, a division of New Leaf Publishing Group


This book may be purchased from New Leaf Publishers , Christianbook.com and on Amazon.com

 

Other Reviews of the book:  http://nlpgblogs.com/nab4/

 Also see GoodReads Page

Merle D'Aubigne's History of the Reformation in the Time of Calvin

If you liked The History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, you'll be as excited as I was at finding out that there is a sequel, and a long sequel at that(8 Volumes). "The History of the Reformation in the Time of Calvin". The sad thing is that Merle D'Aubigne didn't live long enough to finish it. But he did get a lot done. In this history, we'll return to France, Germany, Switzerland and visit some new places, including: England, Scotland, Italy, Spain and Geneva.

What do you think of when you think of Geneva in connection with the Reformation? Calvin? The Geneva Bible? What about a fight for a Republic based on a constitution? That is where D'aubigne begins this work. Calvin isn't even at Geneva yet, nor has it been reformed. There is an evil bishop trying to gain control over the Republic, and there are disputes between the liberals and conservatives about giving up their liberties. If you find the History of the American Revolution interesting, then you might find this fight of Genevese to keep their political liberties interesting. In the midst of this violent political struggle in Geneva, the Gospel beings to enter and do its work among the people. Calvin doesn't come for quite a while, and even when he does, he his ejected from the city only to return later.

"What was the soul of the Reformation ? Truly, salvation by faith in Christ, who died to save - truly, the renewal of the heart by the word and the Spirit of God. But side by side with these supreme elements, that are found in all the Reformations, we meet with the secondary elements that have existed in one country and not in another. What we discover at Geneva may possibly deserve to fix the attention of men in our own days: the characteristic of the Genevese Reform is liberty.

If the empire of Charles V. Was the largest theatre in modern history, Geneva was the smallest. In the one case we have a vast empire, in the other a microscopical republic. But the smallness of the theatre serves to bring out more prominently the greatness of the actions: only superficial minds turn with contempt form a sublime drama because the stage is narrow and the representation void of pomp. To study great things in the small is one of the most useful exercises. What I have in view - and this is my apology - is not to describe a petty city of the Alps, for that would not be worth the labor; but to study in that city a history which is in the main a reflection of Europe, - of its sufferings, its struggles, its aspirations, its political liberties, and its religious transformations...

It is in this small republic that we find men remarkable for their devotion to liberty, for their attachment to law, for the boldness of their thoughts, the firmness of their character, and the strength of their energy. In the sixteenth century, after a repose of some hundreds of years, humanity having recovered its powers, like a field that had long lain fallow, displayed almost everywhere the marvels of the most luxuriant vegetation. Geneva is indeed the smallest theatre of this extraordinary fermentation; but it was not the least in heroism and grandeur, and on that ground alone it deserves attention."

We will also reencounter William Farel and follow him in his perilous mission to preach the Gospel in Switzerland and thence to Geneva. We'll meet again with Marguerite De Navarre, and see her struggle with trying to support the preaching of the Gospel and yet please her brother the King of France at the same time. As D'Aubigne points out in contrasting Calvin and Marguerite, "while Calvin desires truth in the Church above all things, Margaret clings to the preservation of its unity, and thus becomes a noble representative of a system still lauded by some protestants - to reform the Church without breaking it up: a specious system, impossible to be realized." You'll be taken back in time to the beginnings of the preaching of the Gospel in England, Ireland and Scotland. And then go back to the Sixteenth century and see the King of England, his troubles with divorcing his wife Catherine, marrying Anne, her subsequent execution, the break with the Catholic Church...etc. D'aubigne will peak in at Luther and Melanchthon here and there too.

All in all it is just as good as his former work, and introduces more obscure, yet interesting, characters I had never heard of before.

Here are the links to the free versions:  Volume 1  Volume 2  Volume 3  Volume 4  Volume 5  Volume 6  Volume 7  Volume 8

The Conviction To Lead - By Albert Mohler

 Today, so many good ministries of conviction try to get you to support the teaching ministry of so-and-so in such a way as if the truth of God's Word will die unless the particular personality of that ministry/leadership of so-and- so survives.  Mohler's work is a 'breath of fresh air', so to speak, in the seemingly ever present Déjà vu era of "I am of Paul, I am of Apollos…Calvin, Arminius,…etc." Mohler's premise is that,  "There are no indispensable people, only indispensable convictions."  Truth will not die in the death of its teacher.   Even if so-and-so's particular ministry does not survive, eternal truths that they spread, even if only in the hearts of a few, will survive, regardless of the ministries demise.  God chooses by what means His truth will be spread and He may choose to end particular ministries and simply spread the truth by individuals transformed by the truths that they taught.  As the author states, "A legacy is what is left in the wake of a great leader…. The plans and visions of the leader will be outdated soon after his burial…what matters is that convictions survive…The wise leader does not try to perpetuate matters of style or taste, or even plans and programs.  The leader who aims at legacy aims to perpetuate conviction….In truth, there are no indispensable people, only indispensable convictions.  The convictions came before us and will last when we are gone.  Truth endures when nothing else can…."

Mohler delves into the many essentials of leading, all with the basis of conviction:  Leading  through communication,  teaching, repetition, thinking, teaching your followers how to think, setting the example, writing, managing well...etc.  Keeping in mind that time is short; remembering that your leadership position is God-given and that you are actually a steward accountable to Him.  He notes that "The Christian leader must have mental reflexes that correspond to biblical truth.  When something happens or an issue arises, the leader's mind must engage the right intellectual reflex.  Once the reflex is engaged, the process of the thought is already far down the road.  If the reflex is wrong, the leader is in danger - and so are all those he leads."

 

One of the things Mohler points out  is that leadership is not merely having 'knowledge'.   "Knowledge is fundamental, but convictional intelligence is not merely knowledge.  If this were the case, all the leader would need is a comprehensive and biblical encyclopedia close at hand.  This raises the issue of how leaders actual lead:  They make decisions and chart a direction….He [God] gave us the ability to process that knowledge and exercise reason.  He even gave us the ability to think about thinking.  But as the leader exercises the role of leadership, that thinking must be translated into something more automatic, something that does not require a constant process of thinking and rethinking everything the leader knows.  IF that sounds complicated, just consider how you awoke, got dressed and started your morning.  By now most of the actions you took have been forgotten….  You did not have to look for the kitchen because you did not have to think about how to get there…..Why?  Your intelligence was at work in all of those actions, but you were primarily operating out of habit, reflex, and intuition - three realities that point to the need for convictional intelligence....  If we had to rethink how to tie our shoes every morning, we would never get anything else done.  Much of our lives is lived out of habits of action, and most of these habits never rise to our active consciousness….We all know that we have habits of action, but we also operate out of habits of mind.  We did intellectual ruts that our minds grow accustomed to following."

One of the ways he brings up to help exercise and build mental reflexes is reading books and reading them critically.  The most important book for us to read is the Bible, and of course, critical reading reverses when you come to the Scriptures, the critical eye and thought must be applied to oneself and ones thoughts and not the word of God. The Word of God is the critique of us.   As Mohler writes, "Think of reading like you think of eating.  In other words, pay attention to your diet.  For the Christian, the highest reading priority is the Word of God.  Our spiritual maturity will never exceed our knowledge of the Bible." We Christians get our convictions from God's Word.  And "Until conviction is transformed into action it makes no difference in the world."

I thought this book was very 'gripping', perhaps more so because my dad(a pastor/leader)has already been talking about a lot of these things, and its neat to get a repeat of them in this book. This book is a good shove in the right direction.  I'll end my review, as I usually do, with one last quote from the book(though I could put in several more):  "Every leader needs to know the reality that we will die one day and that others will take our place.  Hopefully, these new leaders will bring talents and abilities and vision greater than our own.  Our greatest concern, however, is that they come with a wealth of convictions. Otherwise, all that we build can be turned against the very truths we have championed."

Thanks To Bethany House Publishers for sending me a free copy of this book to review! (My review did not have to be favorable)

One of the places where this book may be purchased is at Amazon.com

The Life and Letters of Elizabeth Prentiss- By George Prentiss

An ordinary life of faith.  Not very exciting sounding, is it? Ordinary...what is good about the ordinary? What purpose can be found in it? The most important purpose. God's. Mrs. Prentiss wrote books, that was exceptional. But for the most part, her life was that of a Christian housewife's: cooking, taking care of the house, children, helping people in need. She did have several of her children die in childhood/infancy, but a lot of people did in her day. She always seems to be visiting a deathbed or potential deathbed, but her age was different from ours, people were dying all of the time. Nowadays, going to a funeral is the exception, not the rule.

Ironically, a life of faith in ordinary circumstances is just as, if not more, extraordinary as a person who exercised faith in extraordinary circumstances. In a letter to a friend, Mrs. Prentiss wrote: "...As to domestic cares, you know Mrs. Stowe has written a beautiful little tract on this subject -- 'Earthly Care a Heavenly Discipline.' God never places us in any position in which we can not grow. We may fancy that He does. We may fear we are so impeded by fretting, petty cares that we are gaining nothing; but when we are not sending any branches upward, we may be sending roots downward. Perhaps in the time of our humiliation, when everything seems a failure, we are making the best kind of progress. God delights to try our faith by the conditions in which He places us. A plant set in the shade shows where its heart is by turning towards the sun, even when unable to reach it. We have so much to distract us in this world that we do not realize how truly and deeply, if not always warmly and consciously, we love Christ. But I believe that this love is the strongest principle in every regenerate soul. It may slumber for a time, it may falter, it may freeze nearly to death; but sooner or later it will declare itself as the ruling passion. You should regard all your discontent with yourself as negative devotion, for that it really is.......I know all about these little domestic foxes that spoil the vines, and sympathize with you in yours. But if some other trial would serve God's purposes, He would substitute it."

Her husband, George, put this biography together very well. It is very interesting, with excerpts from her diary and letters forming a major part. Even her thoughts on everyday occurrences are insightful and encouraging, here is an example: "This evening I passed unavoidably through Miss ----'s room. She was reading Byron as usual and looked so wretched and restless, that I could not help yielding to a loving impulse and putting my hand on hers and asking why she was so sad. She told me. It was just what I supposed. She is trying to be happy, and can not find out how......I alluded to her religious history and present hopes. She said she did not think continued acts of faith in Christ necessary; she had believed on Him once, and now He would save her whatever she did; and she was not going to torment herself trying to live so very holy a life, since, after all, she should get to heaven just as well through Him as if she had been particularly good (as she termed it). I don't know whether a good or a bad spirit moved me at that minute, but I forgot that I was a mere child in religious knowledge, and talked about my doctrine and made it a very beautiful one to my mind, though I don't think she thought it so. Oh, for what would I give up the happiness of praying for a holy heart -- of striving, struggling for it! Yes, it is indeed true that we are saved simply, only, apart from our own goodness, through the love of Christ. But who can believe himself thus chosen of God-- who can think of and hold communion with Infinite Holiness, and not long for the Divine image in his own soul? It is a mystery to me-- these strange doctrines. Is not the fruit of love aspiration after the holy? Is not the act of the new-born soul, when it passes from death unto life, that of desire for assimilation to and oneness with Him who is its all in all? How can love and faith be one act and then cease? I dare not believe -- I would not for a universe believe -- that my sense of safety in the love of Christ is not to be just the sense that shall bind me in grateful self-renunciation wholly to His service. Let be sure of final rest in heaven -- sure that at this moment I am really God's own adopted child; and I believe my prayers, my repentings, my weariness of sin, would be just what they now are; nay, more deep, more abundant. Oh, it is because I believe -- fully believe that I shall be saved through Christ -- that I want to be like Him here upon earth. It is because I do not fear final misery that I shrink from sin and defilement here." And also this excerpt from a letter: "I was somewhat encouraged by reading in my father's memoir, and in reflecting that he passed through far greater spiritual conflicts than will probably ever be mine....I see now that it is not always best for us to have the light of God's countenance. Do not spend your time and strength in asking for me that blessing, but this -- that I may be transformed into the image of Christ in His own time, in His own way."

I found this biography comforting, interesting and thought provoking. We look at exhibitions of faith in all kinds of circumstances, all of them are witnesses to it being worth it. Even the ones who exhibited biblical faith in common circumstances. Knowing the sovereignty of God, we trust that He places us in exactly the right place to exercise faith, as Oswald Chambers wrote: "Notice God's unutterable waste of saints, according to the judgment of the world. God plants His saints in the most useless places. We say - God intends me to be here because I am so useful. Jesus never estimated His life along the line of the greatest use. God puts His saints where they will glorify Him, and we are no judges at all of where that is."

And here, I'll end with one more quote by Mrs. Prentiss, again, from a letter to friend:

"Temptations and conflict are inseparable from the Christian life; no strange thing has happened to you. Let me comfort you with the assurance that you will be taught more and more by God's Spirit how to resist; and that true strength and holy manhood will spring up from this painful soil. Try to take heart; there is more than one foot-print on the sands of time to prove that 'some forlorn and shipwrecked brother' has traversed them before you, and come off conqueror through the Beloved."

You may read this book for free online:

Kindle Edition:   http://www.amazon.com/Life-Letters-Elizabeth-Prentiss-ebook/dp/B000JML4Z4/ref=cm_aya_orig_subj

Google Books (PDF):  http://books.google.com/books?id=_3ICAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Archive.org:  http://archive.org/details/lifelettersofeli01pren

J. H. Merle D'aubigne's 'History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century'

Jean Henri Merle D'aubigne's History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century is an excellent resource for anyone who wishes to know more about the Reformation.  It is a long read (5 volumes), but worth the effort and time.  In these books D'aubigne takes you on a trip through reformation history, visiting Germany, France, England... etc. He doesn't simply move through one country, finish it and then move on to the next, he visits countries again and again.  First he will take you to Germany, stay there for a little while, and then he'll say something like "let us leave Luther a captive at the Wartburg and go see what is happening in Switzerland".  After dealing with Switzerland he comes back to Germany and catches up on what is happening there, leave again, come back, and so on. And instead of merely recounting events,"this happened and then that happened", he'll often take you into, as it were, the different scenes in  history, bringing 'to life' the different characters.  For instance, when Luther is called to Augsburg to recant, you get to see and hear(or rather imagine while reading) Cardinal Cajetan ranting and yelling at Luther, Luther standing before him, very frustrated, trying to reply, finally getting some words in and trapping Cajetan with his own argument. Furthermore, D'aubigne uses several letters from the reformers, enemies of the reformers and their friends, and quotes historical documents, such as the Papal Bull, the 95 Theses and Tetzel's Theses, to help 'transport' you into history.

Perhaps the thing I like best about this historical work is that D'aubigne aims to show "God in History".  He always acknowledges the sovereignty of God, that the events that he recounts are ordained, decreed, by God.

  Here are some excerpts from one of his introductions:  "Had the Reformation been what many Romanists and Protestants of our days imagine it,  had it been that negative system of negative reason which, like a fretful child, rejects whatever is displeasing to it, and disowns the grand truths and leading ideas of universal Christianity, it would never have crossed the threshold of the schools, or been known beyond the narrow limits of the cloister or perhaps of the friar’s cell.  But with Protestantism, as many understand the word, it had no connexion.  Far from being an emaciated, an enervated body, it rose up like a man full of strength and energy.

Two considerations will account for the suddenness and extent of this revolution.  One must be sought in God; the other among men.  The impulse was given by an invisible and mighty hand:  the change accomplished was the work of Omnipotence.  An impartial and attentive observer, who looks beyond the surface, must necessarily be led to this conclusion.  But as God works by second causes, another task remains for the historian.  Many circumstances which have often passed unnoticed, gradually prepared the world for the great transformation of the sixteenth century, so that the human mind was ripe when the hour of its emancipation arrived.

It is the historian’s duty to combine these two great elements in the picture he presents to his readers.  This has been my endeavour in the following pages.  I shall be easily understood so long as I am occupied in investigating the secondary causes that concurred in producing the revolution I have undertaken to describe.  Many perhaps will understand me less clearly, and will even be tempted to charge me with superstition, when I ascribe the completion of the work to God.  It is a conviction, however, that I fondly cherish,  These volumes, as well as the motto I have prefixed to them, lay down in the chief and foremost place this simple and pregnant principle:  GOD IN HISTORY.”

“In history, God should be acknowledged and proclaimed.  The history of the world should be set forth as the annals of the government of the Sovereign King.
I have gone down into the lists wither the recitals of our historians have invited me.  There I have witnessed the actions of men and of nations, developing themselves with energy, and contending in violent collision.  I have heard a strange din of arms, but I have been nowhere shown the majestic countenance of the presiding Judge…
Shall we not recognize the hand of God in those grand manifestations, those great men, those mighty nations, which arise and start as it were from the dust of the earth, and communicate a fresh impulse, a new form and destiny to the human race?  Shall we not acknowledge him in those heroes who spring from society at appointed epochs – who display a strength and activity beyond the ordinary limits of humanity…?”

“The epoch whose history I am desirous of retracing is important for the present generation.  When a man becomes sensible of his own weakness, he is generally inclined to look for support in the institutions he sees flourishing around him, or else in the bold devices of his imagination.  The history of the Reformation shows that nothing new can be made out of things old; and that if, according to our Savior’s expression, we require new bottles for new wine, we must also have new wine for new bottles.  It directs man to God as the universal agent in history, - to that Divine word, ever old by the eternal nature of the truths it contains, ever new by the regenerative influence that it exerts; which purified society three centuries ago, which restored faith in God to souls enfeebled by superstition, and which, at every epoch in the history of man, is the fountain whence floweth salvation.”

“I address this history to those who love to see past events exactly as they occurred, and not by the aid of that magic glass of genius which colors and magnifies, but which sometimes also diminishes and changes them.   Neither the philosophy of the eighteenth nor the romanticism of the nineteenth century will guide my judgments or supply my colors.

The history of the Reformation is written in the spirit of the work itself.  Principles, it is said, have no modesty.  It is their nature to rule, and they steadily assert their privilege.  Do they encounter other principles in their paths that would dispute their nature to rule, and they steadily assert their privilege.  Do they encounter other principles in their paths that would dispute their empire, they give battle immediately.  A principle never rests until it has gained the victory; and it cannot be otherwise – with it to reign is to live.  If it does not reign supreme, it dies.  Thus, at the same time that I declare my inability and unwillingness to enter into rivalry with other historians of the Reformation, I make an exception in favour of the principles on which this history is founded, and I firmly maintain their superiority.

Up to this hour we do not possess, as far as I am aware, any complete history of the memorable epoch that is about to employ my pen.  Nothing indicated that this deficiency would be supplied when I began this work.  This is the only circumstance that could have induced me to undertake it, and I here put it forward as my justification.  This deficiency still exists; and I pray to Him from whom cometh every good and perfect gift, to grant that this humble work may not be profitless to my readers.”

For further incitement to read this work, here is a review of one of D'aubigne's historys by F. Godet:"What difference there is between the perusal of a work of this kind and that of one of the religious novels with which our public is now satiated.  In these latter, notwithstanding all the good-will of the authors, there is always, or nearly always, something unwholesome.  Imagination, that admirable gift of God, is employed to transport us into the chiaro-osouro(?) of fictitious scenes, which communicate a kind of fascination from which it is difficult to emerge, to return to the humdrum of every-day life, and to confine ourselves to the narrow limits of our every-day duties.  Here on the contrary we find the full light of historic truth, imagination restored to its true object - that of giving life to real facts.  The faith of this martyr, it really struggled, really triumphed - this blood, it really flowed - this pile, its flames lighted up the surrounding country, but in so doing they really consumed their victim.  When we read these true histories our hearts do not swell with vain ambition or aspire to an inaccessible ideal.  We do not say: "If I were this one, or that one."  We are obliged to commune with ourselves, to examine our consciences, to humble ourselves with the question: What would become of me if I were called to profess my faith through similar sufferings?  Each on of us is thus called to less self-complacency, to greater humility, but at the same time to greater contentment with his lot, to greater anxiety to serve his God with greater faithfulness and greater activity..."

This historical work is available to download in ebook form for free online:

 Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4, Volume 5

Also available for download is the one volume version(all five volumes in one).  Note that this version is a different translation from the individual volume versions posted above.