Articles

What makes you afraid? Isn’t it the sense that you are not in control? You cannot determine the outcome of an important election. Or manage the economy. Or keep politicians from making horribly bad decisions. Or guarantee your health. Or prevent terrorist attacks. Or be with your children 24/7 to make sure they’re always safe. […]

When is a Church not a Church? Such a theological conundrum presupposes that the inner reality may be lost while the outer shape remains, rather like a nut which when cracked open proves to have no kernel inside. In fact the Bible goes further and asserts that what looks like the Church may indeed be […]

The substance of this article was first given in the form of a lecture on behalf of The Reformation Translation Society * * * ON the night of October 30th, 1517, at his castle in Schweinitz in Germany, the Elector Frederick of Saxony had a peculiar dream. Germany was then just on the threshold of […]

This article is part of an address delivered at the opening session of Stepney College, London and later elaborated into a small book published under the above title in 1843. * * * The necessity of eminent holiness in the ministerial character may be admitted, and yet its importance not duly felt. In theory it […]

It is worth asking the question: What difference does it make to believe in the resurrection of Christ, as opposed to not believing it? Death is clearly the great reality and the great leveller of life. Fools die and wise men die — as do kings and paupers, celebrities and nonentities. Princess Diana dies, and so too Kerry Packer […]

No doctrine has received greater attention than the Atonement. And yet, comparing the studies of the present with those of the past, and the emphases of the Bible with those of its interpreters, one begins to suspect that several aspects of the doctrine are not receiving the attention they deserve. Its Horror This is true, […]

Education is very much in the forefront of the nation’s thinking these days. Within the last few years we have seen the publication of several important official reports. The supply and remuneration of teachers, the virtues of various forms of secondary education and the relation­ships between pupil, parent and school — all these are, rightly, […]

The practice of calling sinners to open response by the act of coming to the front of a congregation at the close of a service was introduced by C. G. Finney in the 1820’s in the United States. Finney coined the phrase ‘the anxious seat’, and substituted a new term ‘submitting to Christ’ to the […]

One day in mid January I was reading the newspaper that reported that a request from the late Scottish author Iain Banks had been finally rejected by the local government. He had died at 59 years of age six years ago and had wanted his ashes to be scattered in various places in the world, […]

Your letter, which I received a few days ago, was most acceptable to me; it gave me no small joy, when I heard formerly of your design, and saw your rules, whereof I heartily approve. I desire to bless God that in this degenerate age when atheism, infidelity, and all kinds of wickedness abound, and […]

A Christian journal recently gave a detailed account of an effort made to bring young people under the influence of the Gospel. A typical ‘Cellar Club’ was hired, and in an atmosphere of dimmed lights, soft drinks, cigarette smoke and ‘Christian beat music’, hundreds of teenagers were given an opportunity to talk to young believers […]

The present is a time not for ease or pleasure, but for earnest and prayerful work. A terrible crisis unquestionably has arisen in the Church. In the ministry of evangelical churches are to be found hosts of those who reject the gospel of Christ. By the equivocal use of traditional phrases, by the representation of differences […]

This excerpt is taken from chapter three of Maturity by Sinclair B. Ferguson, a new release from the Banner of Truth Trust. * * * In the early years of a plant’s life, the basic function of pruning is not to produce fruit immediately, but to prepare for future fruit. Good pruning helps create the proper form […]

To do good to others, is an honour that comes from God only. The very desire is Christ-like; and those that are Christ’s have both the desire and the power. If you have lived without Christ, you have done nothing either for God or man in the past. If you would now take Christ, what […]

The world today is looking for a note of optimism. The dark clouds of war hover ominously over the inter­national scene. Political confusion, economic un­certainty, and social unrest produce anxiety and fear in various parts of the world. Amid all our scientific and technological progress, the twentieth-century man seems disillusioned with the promises of peace […]