Topic Archives: General Biography

Introduction Robert Annan never founded a church, wrote a book or entered a Christian pulpit. His sphere of influence was not among the learned or cultured, but among the down-and-outs of 19th century Dundee. His mission was to seek out the lost of his native town – living in squalid closes, often drunk and asleep […]

Cyril John Pocock, (always known as John), faithful deacon of the church at South Moreton for fifty-five years, passed away on November 24th, 2007, aged 89 years. The following details are taken from his own writings: I was born at Gainfield Farm, Buckland, on March 14th, 1918. My father, Mr. Jacob Pocock, was a minister […]

Is it ever right to question one’s standing with God? Recently the world was informed about Mother Teresa’s inner life as a nun in the Roman Catholic Church. Mother Teresa gained world-wide recognition for her labours amongst the poor in Calcutta. Truly, her efforts on behalf of the poor and the unborn are worthy of […]

On Monday July 2nd Iola and I drove out east from Grand Rapids twenty miles to a lovely house in the woods overlooking Murray Lake on Red Oak Drive, Lowell to visit Bob den Dulk. Bob and I had begun our studies at Westminster Seminary together in 1961 and we graduated three years later (along […]

This is how world-famous triple jumper and high profile ‘Christian’ Jonathan Edwards has described his (now abandoned) belief in God. In a tragic interview in the The Times on 27th June 2007, Edwards speaks openly and candidly of his renunciation of the Christian faith, and of his apparent naivety in following Christ for 37 years […]

“Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.” So the Psalmist prayed, and we ourselves have much need of pleading for such help when the number of the Lord’s people in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland is so sadly diminished. How great is the blank […]

A few hundred yards beyond the house where Finlay Thomson lived most of his days, there stands prominently, on its own, a place of worship known as Teampaill Moluaidh, a building dating from the twelfth or thirteenth century and which, we are informed, was possibly built on the site of an earlier church. Moluag, as […]

On Sabbath the 4th of February 2007 the community of Kinloch on the Isle of Lewis was deeply saddened to learn of the death of Mr Hector Macaulay, 33 Balallan. Although in indifferent health for the past few months the end came with startling suddenness. “Heg”, as he was affectionately known, was a remarkable person […]

John Shiles, the beloved deacon at Old Baptist Chapel, Chippenham, Wiltshire for fifty-nine years passed peacefully to his eternal rest on September 12th, 2006, aged 94. John Shiles was born at Allington, near Chippenham, on June 9th, 1912. His grandfather, his great-grandparents and three sisters of his father had moved from Devon to Wiltshire on […]

Most of you know the story about Eric Liddell, the gold medallist in the 400 meters in the 1924 Olympics in Paris, how he refused to run on Sunday and forfeited his place in the 100 meters, opting to run a race which was not his speciality. What you may not know is that Eric […]

JAMES BARRY 1641-1719 : THE ONLY REFUGE OF THE TROUBLED SOUL The All-Sufficiency of Christ in the Life and Writings of James Barry (1641-1719) by David N Samuel James Barry, I believe, exemplifies in a remarkable way, in his life and writings, this great truth of the Christian faith – the all-sufficiency of Christ as […]

MY SPIRITUAL PILGRIMAGE FROM THEISTIC EVOLUTION TO CREATION I still had no answers to the really important questions that nagged me; questions such as: What is the purpose of everything? A. J. Monty White In Autumn 1963, at the age of eighteen, I found myself a fresher student at the Aberystwyth campus of the University […]

ALLEN GARDINER COMMEMORATED They were the first Protestant missionaries to attempt to make Christ known to the indigenous people of South America. In Faith Cook’s “Singing in the Fire” (Banner of Truth) the heroic story of Captain Allen Gardiner is recorded, as one of fourteen biographical sketches. It is the most accessible record of that […]

HUGH MARTIN “his early conversion was followed by the call to devote himself to the ministry of the Gospel, and his higher studies from the beginning, were directed to that end” The Banner of Truth has reprinted a number of the works of Hugh Martin, his commentary on the book of Jonah, his book of […]

RICHARD GREENHAM AND THE COUNSELLING OF TROUBLED SOULS Greenham was a pastoral counsellor of uncommon skill The fifth lecture at the Westminster Conference 2001 was given by Stanley Jebb of Truro on “Richard Greenham and the Counselling of Troubled Souls.” We have learned about Greenham through J.I.Packer’s admiration for him. He has told us about […]

THE SERAPHIC SAMUEL PEARCE Pearce hoped to join him overseas but his own church were united that he was needed more in England. So he spent his brief ministry in Birmingham. The closing paper of the Westminster Conference was given by Dr Robert Oliver the professor of Church History at the London Theological Seminary and […]

RICHARD SIBBES AND THE RETURNING BACKSLIDER ‘Of this blest man, let this just praise be given: heaven was in him, before he was in heaven.’ The third paper at the Westminster Conference 2001 was given by Paul Oliver co-pastor with his father at Bradford on Avon. It was on the theme “The Returning Backslider” a […]

PHILIP DODDRIDGE AND THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION His manual of theology was considered a beacon of orthodoxy The fourth paper given at the Westminster Conference 2001 was on “Philip Doddridge and Theological Education.” It was delivered by Robert Strivens of Banbury. What a fascinating subject. There are really two themes present here, the first being Doddridge himself […]

GEORGE CALHOUN: A TRIBUTE SOME YEARS AFTER GOD SAVE HIM, GEORGE BEGAN TO UNDERSTAND AND LOVE THE REFORMED FAITH Were he alive, George Calhoun may have discouraged my writing these remarks for public consumption. George was the founder of Mt. Olive Tape Library (P0. Box 422, Mt. Olive, Mississippi 39119). He did not care to […]

RYLE RE-EXAMINED RYLE WAS A MAN OF HIS TIMES That two good books on J.C.Ryle (1816-1900) should appear within a year of each other is a reminder of how the influence of faithful Christians can abide long after their death. Both books are by clergy of the Church of England. Russell’s work is largely biography, […]

ROBERT MURRAY M’CHEYNE: MINISTER OF ST. PETER’S, DUNDEE, 1836 – 1843. THE ONLY POWER THAT CAN BRING A CHILD OF SATAN AND MAKE HIM A CHILD OF GOD, IS GOD HIMSELF. Two men were working beside a fire in a quarry, one day in winter, when a stranger approached them on horseback. Alighting from his […]

IF THEY DO NOT DO WHAT IS RIGHT, THERE MAY BE A MIGHTY BATTLE Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield was born at ‘Grasmere’ near Lexington, Kentucky, one hundred and fifty years ago this year on 5th November 1851. He died in February 1921 12 weeks after the death of Abraham Kuyper and 22 weeks before the death […]

The Death of Thomas Bilney by J. H. Merle D’aubigne; [Thomas Bilney, ‘whose conversion had begun the Reformation in England’ was, in God’s hands, the instrument of Hugh Latimer’s conversion. The story of his life ‘in strength and weakness’, leading to his martyrdom in 1531, is eloquently recorded in The Reformation of England, volumes 1 […]

“Depth of mercy! can there be Mercy still reserved for me?” John Newton was born in 1725 in London. His mother who was a godly woman and who taught him to pray as a child, died when he was only seven years old. He had only two years at school and at the age of […]

Gentlemen. I have long looked for a suitable opportunity of acknowledging an old debt to a favourite author of mine. But when I proceed to pay a little of that old debt today, I am not to be supposed to put any of you into that same author’s debt. All I wish to do is […]