This CD-ROM contains most of the Christian Classics Ethereal Library web site (http://ccel.wheaton.edu/) -- nearly 300 volumes, including many of the most important works in Christian history: the Early Church Fathers, a selection of later important works, four translations of the Bible, more than four commentaries, a Bible dictionary, and more. To get started quickly, double-click the file Index.htm on the CD-ROM or open it in your web browser.
This CD-ROM is the result of six years of my work and the work of many volunteers, scanning, typing, formatting, proofreading, and collecting public domain resources. All share a common goal: to make edifying, classic Christian books and resources widely available. You may further distribute all of the public-domain texts and use them as you wish. The CCEL directory of the CD-ROM (i.e. not including Netscape Navigator or AltaVista Personal Search) may also be made available on a web server. Your purchase of this CD-ROM supports the further development of this library.
Links preceeded by an "@" are links to documents that are not included on the CD-ROM; they are accessible only if you are connected to the Internet. They are provided for the convenience of those who have an Internet connection. In addition, if your web browser supports style sheets, internal links will be colored green and external links @blue.
This CD-ROM contains a free copy of Digital Equipment Corporation's Alta Vista Personal Search 97 search engine (unsupported), which you can install to perform ranked, Boolean searches of the CCEL CD-ROM. Windows 95/98/NT, 16 MB RAM, and some 150-200 MB of disk space are required to install the search engine and index the CD-ROM. Installation instructions are below.
If you do not install the search engine, you can still use the CD-ROM and search individual files using your browser's search function. Also, if you are connected to the Internet, you can search the on-line Christian Classics Ethereal Library, which has everything this is on your CD-ROM.
Netscape Navigator 4.08 is provided for Windows and Macintosh users who don't have a web browser. But unless you have a very old computer and have never used the World Wide Web, it shouldn't be necessary to install a web browser -- you should already have one. Windows 95, 98, and NT and recent Macs come with web browsers. Navigator installation files for Windows 95/98/NT, Windows 3.1, and Macintosh OS 7.6.1 or later are located in the Netscape directory of the CD-ROM.
To use this CD-ROM on Windows 95 or 98, no browser installation is necessary. You already have a web browser installed. Just open the CD-ROM in Windows Explorer and double-click Index.htm on the CD-ROM.
To install the Alta Vista Personal Search 97 search engine
(optional), choose Run from the Start menu,
type d:\Altavist\setup (where d is the drive letter of
your CD-ROM drive), and follow the installation instructions.
After the installation is complete, open
Start --> Programs --> AltaVista Search --> AltaVista Personal 97 Indexer,click the configure button, choose the Documents tab, and configure it to index your CD-ROM drive. (Click the check box by your CD-ROM drive and uncheck the other drives.) For me, indexing took about an hour on a Pentium 166 system. Then, to search, open
Start --> Programs --> AltaVista Search --> AltaVista Personal 97 (Browser).I cannot provide support for this search engine; see the readme file that is installed along with the software for further information if you have problems.
To use the CD-ROM on Windows 3.1, you don't have to install anything if you already have a web browser. First try double-clicking the file Index.htm on the CD-ROM drive. If it runs, you already have a web browser and don't need to perform any further installation.
If you don't have a web browser, you can install Netscape. To do so, insert the CD-ROM and select Run from the File menu of the Program Manager. Type d:\Netscape\N16e408 where d is the letter of your CD-ROM drive. Follow the installation instructions that appear on the screen. After the installation is complete, start up Netscape Navigator from the Program Manager, select Open from the File menu, and type in d:\Index.htm. Or, simply double-click the file Index.htm on the CD-ROM.
To use the CD-ROM on a Macintosh, you don't need to do anything further if you already have a web browser installed. Open your web browser and choose Open (or Open File). Locate the file "Index.htm" on the CD-ROM and open it.
To install Netscape Navigator, insert the CD-ROM and open it. Open the Navigator folder and double-click Nav4_ppc.mac. Follow the installation instructions that appear on the screen. After the installation is complete, open the file Index.htm in Navigator as described above.
Note: If your web browser is set to open a home page at the Netscape or Microsoft web site, as is the case by default, and if you are not connected to the Internet, you will get an error message because the browser will be unable to open the page, which you will have to dismiss. You can avoid the message by choosing Preferences from the Edit menu and setting the browser to start with a blank page.
Copyright 1999 Harry Plantinga. Netscape Navigator is a licensed product of Netscape Corp. Alta Vista Personal Search 97 is a licensed product of Digital Equipment Corp., included free of charge. The Executable Outlines are copyright Mark A. Copeland, 1999, used by permission. All of the other books on this CD-ROM are believed to be in the public domain unless they contain an explicit copyright statement -- you may use their text, RTF, pdf, and HTML files for any purpose.
Christian Classics Ethereal Library
March 22, 1999