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Happy in my work as I felt, and successful by the blessing of God, yet I continually heard, and chiefly during my last years in the Divinity Hall, the wail of the perishing Heathen in the South Seas; and I saw that few were caring for them, while I well knew that many would be […]

Above all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, supplications and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and for those appointed to high office, so that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, in all godliness and decency. (1 Timothy 2:1-2) As long as we are busy doing good, the devil has less […]

John Calvin is thought of, principally, as a theologian. Of course, he was that. But, as Andrew W. Blackwood once told me, in his day he was first of all considered a preacher. Too few of his sermons have been preserved.1 English translations are mainly in 16th century English!2 Nevertheless, the more I read them, […]

The following testimony is from Near to God: 9 True Stories of a Wonderful Discovery. The love of Christ compels me to give testimony to my conversion from the Roman Catholic priesthood to the born-again life in Jesus Christ. For twenty-five years I was a Roman Catholic priest, strictly following the rituals of a system […]

The following is drawn from the Puritan Paperback Temptation Resisted and Repulsed, an abridged edition of John Owen’s Of Temptation (found in his Works, Volume 6). Having laid the groundwork of the truth to be addressed and improved, I will now make this observation:  It is the great duty of all believers to use all […]

The following is taken from Puritan Portraits by J. I. Packer, published by Christian Focus (192pp, paperback, ISBN 9781845507008). There are seven Puritan leaders who are evaluated and commended by Dr. Packer in this fine book. The notes have been added. I owe more, I think, to John Owen than to any other theologian, ancient or modern, […]

The following is excerpted from ‘Doors of Opportunity’, which constitutes chapter 15 of Faith Cook’s Selina, Countess of Huntingdon. It sketches a period of time in which her patronage of new dissenting chapels and itinerant preachers was beginning to bear fruit. As the Countess’s chapels began to increase, so did the administrative labour of ensuring […]

There be three degrees of discovery of heavenly things: First, in the doctrine of them; and so they are hid to them that are out of the church. And then, secondly, in the spiritual meaning of them; and so they are hid to carnal men in the church. And then, thirdly, in regard of the […]

The concluding piece in Iain H. Murray’s three historical articles on the Great Ejection. EVEN though Farewell Sermons had been preached in many parishes on Sunday, August 17, there was a widespread feeling of uncertainty throughout the nation with regard to the direction and character of coming events. Something of this uncertainty can be detected […]

Iain H. Murray provides an insight into the experience of the Puritan ministers facing expulsion from the Church of England in the portentous summer of 1662. Read the previous post, on the build-up to these events. THOUGH many of the Puritan ministers were far removed from the intrigues and disputations going on in London, they […]

EDITORIAL NOTE. THE ejection of two thousand ministers by the Act of Uniformity in 1662 could not fail to make a great impression on the minds of the people of England, and especially of the ministers who were ejected, and of the people who had enjoyed their ministry. The last utterances of these ministers in […]

On 24 August 1662, the English Parliament passed an Act designed to exclude and ‘utterly disable’ a group of religious ministers within the Established (i.e. Anglican) Church. The immediate effect of the Act of Uniformity of 1662 was the forced departure of over hundreds of gospel ministers from the churches they served. Moreover, it represented […]

The following excerpt, which witnesses to the pastoral ministry of David Dickson (1583–1663), is taken from Samuel Rutherford and His Friends, by Faith Cook. ‘FROM Irvine, being on my journey to Christ’s Palace in Aberdeen, August 4th 1636.’ So runs the inscription on a letter written by Samuel Rutherford to Robert Cunningham, another servant of […]

HEAVEN IS BEING WITH CHRIST Heaven means Jesus Christ, that is, being with Jesus. That is the only heaven there is. It is Christ’s home and he is never away from his home for a moment. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was often asked why we are not told more in the New Testament about life beyond […]

The following appeared as Ian Hamilton’s editorial in the December 2022 edition of The Banner of Truth Magazine. In this, my penultimate editorial as Editor of the Magazine, I want to direct your—and my—thoughts upwards. In his fine exposition of The Excellencies of God, Terry Johnson focuses in one chapter on the Blessedness of God […]