Articles

The following is a poem, written by William Cowper on the subject of prayer. What various hindrances we meet, In coming to the mercy seat! Yet who that knows the worth of prayer, But wishes to be often there? Prayer makes the darkened cloud withdraw, Prayer climbs the ladder Jacob saw, Gives exercise to faith […]

The Enlightenment, emerging in 18th-century Germany, rejected all supernatural religion, stressing the all-sufficiency of human reason. Its rationalistic spirit penetrated deeply into German Protestantism, and by the 19th century it was making its impact on Protestantism worldwide. It undermined belief in the inerrancy and authority of the Bible, encouraging a radical form of Higher Criticism that had a long-lasting […]

For the last four Septembers I have been scheduled to travel to a Reformed Conference in St Petersburg with a number of other men.  The initiative for this event came from Dewey Roberts, the long-standing pastor of the PCA congregation in Destin, Florida. The Russian people have been on his heart since 1999 and it […]

An account of John Swallow from Charlesworth written by his pastor, Mr E. Merrett. * * * John E. Swallow, for many years a deacon of the Particular Baptist cause at Charlesworth, Derbyshire, passed away on October 31st 1918, aged 56 years. In the following account we have a striking instance of the power of […]

There are not wanting here and there the signs that good Christians are suffering from a kind of spiritual metal-fatigue. In our fellowships iron rarely sharpens iron any longer. Much preaching that is orthodox lacks that ring of conviction which is needed to thrust it home into sinners’ consciences. A guilty tameness smothers our zeal. […]

John Walter Stevens, a member of the church at Bethel, Luton, and formerly deacon at Ebenezer, Clapham, and South Moreton, passed away on November 25th, 2016, aged 95 years. The following is taken from his own writings (written in 1993-94). * * * I was born in Clapham, London, in July 1921, of godly, praying […]

Malta is a Mediterranean island situated 60 miles south of Sicily. Its population is 420,000, almost half of whom live in the capital, Valletta, and the numbers have been swollen in recent years by a stream of refugees from North Africa. Its official language is Maltese but many of the people speak English. It became independent […]

A delightful man’s body was buried under a tree in a country cemetery in rural Kentucky sixteen months ago. Mike Morrow’s soul had taken its heavenly flight the previous Friday, and his earthly ‘tent’ was laid to rest in Union Cemetery, immediately beside the Union Baptist Church building where Mike had pastored for sixteen years. […]

There are many misconceptions about faith these days. Some think of it as a commodity, saying ‘I wish I had your faith.’ Others think of it simply as the means of salvation, to deliver us from hell. Much of the evangelistic preaching in recent years has been directed in that way. ‘Believe and on the […]

An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels. , Proverbs 31:10 I well remember the time I was allowed to take a series of eleventh grade American Literature class in a local high school and give the ‘other side’ of the story about the Puritans of the seventeenth century. They […]

PBS recently aired a documentary about Martin Luther which is available to view from on their website until September 27th (link at the bottom of the page). * * * The year 2017 marks the 500th anniversary of one on the most important events in Western civilization: the birth of an idea that continues to shape […]

Few biographies of Spurgeon mention Johann Gerhard Oncken. The most extensive mentions are those of G. Holden Pike (Life and Work of C. H. Spurgeon) and Spurgeon himself in his Personal Notes in The Sword and the Trowel. Writing an appreciation of ‘our friend, Mr J. G. Oncken’ soon after his death in 1884, Spurgeon […]

The longer one lives in this world as a Christian, the more he or she becomes aware of the significance of their words and thoughts. The mind of the the believer plays a far more central role than we often realise. ‘As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he’, the scriptures say. We […]

This article is taken from a sermon preached by Christmas Evans in 1800, based on Romans 3:25 When our world fell from its first estate it became one vast prison. Its walls were adamant and unscaleable, its gates were brass and impregnable. Within, the people sat in darkness and shadow of death, without, inflexible Justice […]

I haven’t been to a communion season in the Scottish Hebrides for three or four years and so when Hugh Ferrier invited me to come to their August Communion Season this year, I was delighted to accept. The High Free Church Stornoway The High Church in Stornoway was the largest Church of Scotland congregation in […]