Yearly Archives: 2023
The publication of a complete and uniform edition of Manton’s works is a great boon to the readers of English theology. Many of his best writings have been hitherto inaccessible to all who have not long purses and large libraries. The few who know him would gladly testify, I am sure, that Thomas Manton was […]
ReadApproximately halfway between the Scottish cities of Perth and Dundee, on the southern slope of the Sidlaw Hills above the fertile landscape of the Carse of Gowrie, nestles the small settlement of Kilspindie. Next to its seventeenth-century parish church stands the walled family tomb of the Stuarts of Annat. On the far interior wall of […]
ReadSome books belong to the category of ‘must have’. Alexander Moody Stuart: A Memoir belongs to that category, and perhaps especially for ministers of the gospel it is a ‘must read’. It becomes clear soon enough why Robert Murray M‘Cheyne on first hearing him preach was immediately anxious for his close friends Andrew and Horatius […]
ReadOne of the remarkable features of the early church was its preoccupation with the doctrine of God. Initially the concern of men like Athanasius (300-371) was to establish and defend the deity of Christ against men like Arius who taught that Jesus was a creature. Athanasius understood that if Jesus was not God in the […]
ReadThe following passage is excerpted from Richard Alderson’s No Holiness, No Heaven: Antinomianism Today (BoT., 1986, rep. 2001). In it, Alderson speaks to the issue of antinomianism and its proponents. They have their (false) prophets of love whose favourite texts are I John 4:8 (‘God is love’) and Romans 13:8 (‘Love one another; for he […]
ReadThere is much confusion today about the relationship between the law of God and the gospel of God. Are Christians still ‘under’ the law? If we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, do we still need to keep the commandments of God? Questions like these are important to answer biblically. In the except […]
ReadOriginal Editor’s Note: Contributed by a minister to whom many other Christian workers will be grateful for expressing what they have often felt. The man in the pulpit is much more likely to be ill than the man in the pew. As an ordinary mortal and private Christian he is as susceptible to illness as […]
ReadRecently reading Paul’s Second Letter to the Thessalonians, I was struck by a word that immediately arrested me. Paul has been writing about the ‘coming of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (2 Thess. 2:1). He assures the church that the Lord had not yet come, and would not come, ‘unless the rebellion comes first and the […]
ReadA review by Martin Williams of Robert White’s translation of the 1541 edition of John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion.1 C. S. Lewis once wrote: There is a strange idea abroad that in every subject the ancient books should be read only by the professionals, and that the amateur should content himself with the […]
ReadIn the last few months, the church I serve has been working through the updated version of Eshcol, John Owen’s little treatment on church life now entitled Duties of Christian Fellowship: A Manual for Church Members. The volume is divided into two main sections. The first contains seven ‘Rules for walking in fellowship with respect […]
ReadToday, May 24th, marks the 285th anniversary of John Wesley’s ‘Happy Day’. Bob Thomas explains the significance of this event. John Wesley was an Anglican clergyman who did his best to live an obedient life before God. He had an ardent faith, but without a real relationship with God. He had gone to America to […]
ReadThe following was preached by John Owen on 26 September, 1680. The sermon can be found in a new Puritan Paperback, Gospel Life, and in Volume 9 of The Works of John Owen (Sermons to the Church). ‘I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. —1 Cor. […]
ReadThe following is excerpted from The Incomparableness of God by George Swinnock, which the Banner publishes as a Puritan Paperback, and which appears in Volume 4 of Swinnock’s Works. The incomparableness of God in his being. It is from itself, for itself, and wholly independent. The incomparableness of the divine being will appear in several […]
ReadA Sermon DELIVERED ON SABBATH MORNING, APRIL 22, 1855, BY THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON, AT EXETER HALL, STRAND. ‘The carnal mind is enmity against God.’—Rom. 8:7 THIS is a very solemn indictment which the apostle Paul here prefers against the carnal mind. He declares it to be enmity against God. When we consider […]
ReadThis Friday marks the beginning of the Banner’s Spring conference week in the UK. The Youth Conference will run from Friday, April 14, to Monday, April 17, and the Ministers’ Conference from Monday, April 17, to Thursday, April 20. While in-person booking has finished, we are pleased to say that there is a way to […]
Read