Topic Archives: Christian Living

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

One of the most outstanding ‌biblical commentators since the Reformation is John Brown (1784–1858), the grandson of John Brown of Haddington. Brown occupied the chair of exegetical theology in the United Secession Church and then in the United Presbyterian Church. His exegetical commentaries (The Trust has published his Discourses and Sayings of Our Lord, Galatians, […]

The 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. […]

The life of faith is rarely straightforward and uncomplicated. Every moment of every day we have to contend with ‘the world, the flesh and the devil.’ Added to this triumvirate of enemies, there is the reality that our circumstances often seem in opposition to God’s promises. These hard facts are one reason why Christians should […]

A Sermon DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, APRIL 1, 1855, BY THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON, AT EXETER HALL, STRAND. ‘The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him; but his bow abode in strength and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of […]

A Sermon DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, APRIL 1, 1855, BY THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON, AT EXETER HALL, STRAND. ‘The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him; but his bow abode in strength and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of […]

A Sermon DELIVERED ON SABBATH MORNING, MARCH 11, 1855, BY THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON, AT EXETER HALL, STRAND. ‘For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.’—2 Corinthians 1:5. SEEK ye rest from your distresses ye children of woe and sorrow? This is the place where ye […]

He is a worshipper. His life revolves around his worship. Nothing stops him. There is no doubt about his worship. Everyone knows the object of his worship, because he cannot stop talking about it. Even the way he dresses and behaves declares his commitment to his cause. On a Monday morning he is full of […]