Topic Archives: History & Biography

If it were to be asked what is the recurring theme in Knox’s words and writings the answer is perhaps a surprising one. Sometimes he could be severe, and sometimes extreme. Given the days and the harshness of the persecution he witnessed, it would be understandable if these elements had preponderated in his ministry. But […]

It is rather audacious to claim that we are reformed. It can also be misleading when we call ourselves Reformed Churches. For this might imply that we believe that our denominations are truly reformed; or, even worse, that at some point in the past we were or became reformed and that the task of reform […]

The following is the text of Arnold Dallimore’s essay, Spiritual and Moral Conditions in England before the Revival which appears in Volume 1 of his George Whitefield: The Life and Times of the Great Evangelist of the Eighteenth-Century Revival. Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people. Proverbs 14:34 I love […]

The Rev Kenneth A MacRae (1883-1964) exercised a powerful ministry over 50 years in the Free Church of Scotland and his memory lives on in the monumental work, Diary of Kenneth A MacRae, edited with additional material by Iain Murray.* He made a lasting impression on my early Christian life. I had correspondence with him […]

The name Thomas Charles of Bala had been familiar to me for many years and I knew that he was an eminent evangelical Welsh minister of a bygone day. But beyond that, I confess, I knew next to nothing about him. If any reader of these lines has to make the same admission let me […]

Perhaps you have been disappointed and distressed by tales in the past year of men, often prominent men, who have departed from the faith. Some have drifted from the truth, others have given themselves to particular sins, several have adopted crass fads and carnal fashions. In some cases, you were sadly unsurprised. In others, you […]

One of the most difficult things at present for the Reformed Christian is to strike a balance between yesterday and today. This is not perhaps surprising. The Reformed Christian believes that in the sixteenth century the Reformers recovered the biblical faith, and that no Protestant ministry has excelled that of the seventeenth century. Reformers and […]

Paul Washer talks about the impact Iain Murray’s books have had on his life and ministry, especially the biography of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Two Questions Summer is fast approaching and many of us are still stuck at home. Although this can be challenging, don’t you agree that this is a great opportunity to work through a solid […]

John MacArthur recommends The Pastor of Kilsyth; a little biography by Islay Burns on the life and times of his father, Pastor W. H. Burns. In our celebrity-driven age (from which the evangelical church is far from exempt), this is exactly the kind of life we need to study. We need to be reminded of […]

Do you know who Ernest C. Reisinger was? In the video above, Katie Irwin, a long-time friend of Ernie’s, recounts her meeting Ernie and talks about the impact the life of this man of God had on her. She refers throughout to Geoff Thomas’ biography of Ernie Reisinger. Readers with an interest in the development […]

The following is an extract from Johnson’s biography of Dabney. * * * From 1886 to 1889 R. L. Dabney’s sight became dimmer and dimmer, until the light went out absolutely. On walking into his own brightly lighted parlor of an evening, he would often ask whether the light was on and that, too, when […]

Philip Bennett Power was born in Ireland in 1822. He graduated at Trinity College, Dublin, and entered the Church of England ministry about 1846, his first charge being at Leicester, where he remained for some two years, during which he began a week-night service in the parlour of a local pub! From Leicester he moved […]

The years between 1662 and 1689 witnessed the ejection from the National Church Establishment, and then the persecution of approaching two thousand of the best ministers England has ever possessed.  The Act of Uniformity, the immediate cause of their ejection, was soon followed by the Conventicle and Five Mile Acts.  The former prevented their gathering […]

For one week, take 30% OFF 40+ Reformation titles. View the full list here. Also, we’ve hand-picked 6 of our favorite Reformation titles and given them even greater discounts. There are limited quantities available and you can view them below. We’ve saved the best deal for last – scroll down to see! It is our constant prayer that […]

It is nearly three hundred years since the birth of John Newton and we do well to pay our little tribute to his worthwhile life. In his day Newton was famous for five things — he was an outstanding example of a converted infidel, he was a great hymn-writer, he was a wise spiritual counsellor, […]

When Philip Henry’s mother lay dying of the consumption that was to remove her from this life on the 6th March 1645, she said to those around her, ‘My head is in heaven, and my heart is in heaven; it is but one step more, and I shall be there too.’ It was a sentiment […]

You could not ignore or overlook Rowland Hill. He was not that kind of person. To most of his fellow-Anglicans Rowland Hill was a rogue elephant or a bete noire, to Evangelical Anglicans like Charles Simeon of Cambridge University an embarrassment, to Baptists an object of suspicion as he often treated them with disdain, but […]

Under God the Haldane brothers began a remarkable spiritual movement in Scotland at the close of the eighteenth century. With Robert‘s wealth and drive and James’s preaching abilities, and with a talented band of enthusiastic colleagues, they made evangelistic tours, founded tabernacles and independent churches on Congregational lines and established a seminary that sent out […]

Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield was born at ‘Grasmere’ near Lexington, Kentucky, on 5th November, 1851.1 There flowed in his veins the blood of the staunch English Puritans who withstood the oppression of the Stuart kings and the blood of the Ulster-Scotch who first settled in the Cumberland Valley of Pennsylvania and in the up-country of Virginia. […]

Luther stood before church and emperor at Worms and his words cannot be forgotten: ‘Here I stand; I can do no other; God help me.’ Calvin invited an infuriated mob to shed his blood. John Knox rebuffed the queen and her court in Scotland. Courageous actions by courageous men — for courage is one of […]

Thomas Jolly is representative of the large number of Puritan pastors who left no books by which posterity might be reminded of them, but who were neverthe­less in their own day eminent in spirituality and preach­ing power. We need to remember that the literary remains of Puritans which have been reprinted only represent a comparatively […]

Join us as we guide you through one of Banner’s new reprints: The Great Awakening by Joseph Tracy. In this video overview we’ll summarize some of Tracy’s key points in the book while reading some longer sections to give you a flavour for what the book is like. This volume remains second to none in […]

‘Puritanism has left a vast literature of homiletics and casuistry, which is wholly dead save for an occasional excursion of the curious. Nothing could be more wearisome to the modern reader than its voluminous controversy. The Calvinistic theology, which was the intellectual form of Puritanism, is dead beyond recall.’ These words were penned in 1912 by a Fellow of All […]

Fifty years or so ago, you would have been hard-pressed to find anyone who could recognize the name John Owen. Today, he is regularly quoted from pulpits and in articles as though his name were a household word. This is even more surprising because almost everybody who mentions him adds, ‘But he is not light […]

David Brainerd was an 18th Century American missionary of Reformed beliefs. We say American but Brainerd lived before the Declaration of Independence and so, like his contemporaries, thought of himself chiefly as an Englishman. The struggle between the colonial powers of England, France, and Spain raged throughout his lifetime. In his short life, he travelled […]