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Topic Archives: Christian Living

The following is taken from William Gurnall’s The Christian in Complete Armour, pages 119–121. There is a law in wrestling which must be observed. If a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully, 2 Timothy 2:5. He alludes to the Roman games, to which there were judges appointed […]

Category Book Excerpts
Date August 22, 2024
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The following excerpt is from George Newton’s exposition of John 17:24 in the volume George Newton on John 17. DOCTRINE: It is the will of Jesus Christ that all that are his own by the donation of the Father shall be in heaven where he is. There are two things in the doctrine which I […]

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Category Book Excerpts
Date August 13, 2024
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The following, which appeared in Issues 611–612 of the Banner of Truth Magazine (Aug–Sep 2014) is from John Angell James, The Anxious Inquirer After Salvation Directed and Encouraged*. We are grateful to Mr Martyn Jolly for bringing this extract to our attention and supplying the text. It may seem strange to some persons, that I […]

Category Articles
Date June 20, 2024
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1. Jesus Claim: Jesus had no interest in maintaining a male-female requirement for sexual relations. What the evidence really shows: Jesus believed that a male-female requirement for sexual relations was foundational, a core value of Scripture’s sexual ethics on which other sexual standards should be based, including the ‘twoness’ of a sexual union. Jesus predicated […]

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Category Articles
Date May 31, 2024
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There is a great lack of clarity on the subject of the place of God’s law in the life of the believer. One man who sought to address this topic was Ernest Kevan, whose biography the Trust publishes. The following excerpt from the book describes how Kevan brought a Reformed view of God’s law to […]

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Category Book Excerpts
Date May 26, 2024
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The following is the first part of Sibbes’s sermon The Tender Heart, which is published with three other sermons as Josiah’s Reformation in the Puritan Paperback series. “And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel […]

Category Book Excerpts
Date May 13, 2024
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The following excerpt is the text of Chapter 5, ‘How to Meditate on Heavenly Things’ in Spiritual-Mindedness, a Puritan Paperback by John Owen which has been abridged and made easy to read by R. J. K. Law. The unabridged text of this treatise, originally entitled The Grace and Duty of Being Spiritually-Minded, is contained in […]

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Category Book Excerpts
Date April 28, 2024
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The following is taken from Thomas Brooks, The Secret Key to Heaven: The Vital Importance of Private Prayer (Puritan Paperbacks). After detailing the great privilege of private prayer, and why it is of the essence of the true Christian life, he anticipates and answers several common objections to its practice: First Objection. But many will […]

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Category Book Excerpts
Date April 8, 2024
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Elizabeth Prentiss lived in a different century, but the challenges she faced, and the way she responded to those challenges, speak powerfully to us today. Early in their married life, Elizabeth and her husband, George suffered the loss of two of their six children. Eddie died aged five and Bessie died when just a few […]

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Category Articles
Date January 14, 2024
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The following sermon is excerpted from Sermons on the Beatitudes.   Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst on account of righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for mercy will be shown them (Matt. 5:5–7). Then lifting up his eyes upon […]

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Category Sermons
Date October 24, 2023
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A review by Paul Helm, Professor Emeritus of the University of London, of John Calvin’s Sermons on the Beatitudes.1 Calvin’s sermons were delivered extempore, taken down by the remarkable Denis Raguenier, published by the diaconate of Geneva, and the proceeds used to support refugees. Initially, Calvin was not keen on them being published, but when […]

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Category Book Reviews
Date October 19, 2023
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The following is excerpted from Help Heavenward: Guidance and Strength for the Christian’s Life Journey, by Octavius Winslow. And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee. I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become […]

Category Book Excerpts
Date October 17, 2023
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The following is excerpted from Sinclair B. Ferguson’s volume John Owen on the Christian Life (pages  275–279). The original text is heavily footnoted with reference to sources in Owen’s Works. The covenant into which we enter through faith in Christ is an everlasting covenant, in that it is rooted in the eternal purposes of God the Father, […]

Category Book Excerpts
Date October 5, 2023
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The following sermon text is taken from that preserved by the Christian Classics Ethereal Library, with thanks. This sermon was preached the next Lord’s Day after Doctor John Owen’s interment. “Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.” Philippians 3:21 The occasion why I pitch upon these […]

Category Sermons
Date October 3, 2023
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This is a reprint of an article that was first published in the Banner of Truth magazine, July – August 1968. His words remain searching and pertinent today. * * * The Value of the Gospel No men in the world want help like them that want the Gospel. A man may want liberty, and […]

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Category Articles
Date September 26, 2023
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The following excerpt is Chapter 8 of John Flavel’s The Mystery of Providence. Having proved the affairs of the people of God to be conducted by the care of special Providence, and given instances of what influence Providence has upon those interests and concerns of theirs, we come in the next place to prove it to […]

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Category Book Excerpts
Date September 22, 2023
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Maggie Paton’s letters ought to be read alongside Paton’s autobiography. James Paton wrote that he was eager to publish these letters because ‘they present another picture of mission life and experiences in the New Hebrides’ from that portrayed in the now famous Autobiography of her husband.  The story of John Gibson Paton (1824-1907), Scottish Presbyterian […]

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Category Book Reviews
Date September 15, 2023
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A review by Ryan M. McGraw of Catechizing Our Children: The Whys and Hows of Teaching the Shorter Catechism Today by Terry L. Johnson.1 Catechizing is often a missing ingredient in the discipleship of covenant children today. Many parents reject catechizing by pitting it against Bible memorization. Yet those making this objection fail to realize […]

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Category Book Reviews
Date September 13, 2023
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The following extract is taken from Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor, pages 249–273.  Note to the reader: before this section, Baxter spends time considering how a minister may winsomely prevail upon his people to submit to being catechised. With this treated of, he proceeds to outline how a shepherd of God’s flock can best carry […]

Category Book Excerpts
Date September 10, 2023
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In the recovery of biblical exposition that has marked the church in our own time, it has not always been recognized that in addition to such exposition the Reformers and Puritans placed great stress on catechizing. We tend to think of this as children learning catechetical questions and answers by rote. But what the Puritans […]

Category Book Excerpts
Date September 8, 2023
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The following extract is taken from Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor, pages 168–177. The Duty of Personal Catechizing and Instructing the Flock Particularly Recommended Having disclosed and lamented our miscarriages and neglects, our duty for the future lies plain before us. God forbid that we should now go on in the sins which we have […]

Category Book Excerpts
Date September 7, 2023
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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, […]

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Category Book Excerpts
Date August 24, 2023
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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 […]

Category Book Excerpts
Date August 22, 2023
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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 […]

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Category Articles
Date August 6, 2023
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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 […]

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Category Articles
Date August 3, 2023
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