Articles

The Letters of Samuel Rutherford have again been reprinted in hardback and published by The Banner of Truth Trust. In former years some have contended that Rutherford’s Letters are the nearest thing to inspiration outside Scripture. It is a delight, therefore, to find that there has been a call for yet a further republication of […]

In November I visited South Korea. My main purpose was to take part in an Induction service of a Korean minister who for the past two years has been studying some of our Seminary courses by distance learning. The Rev Dr Y C Whang has also become known to our ministers by his attendance at […]

David Wells latest book, Above All Earthly Powers; Christ in a Postmodern World, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005) is one that I found difficult to put down once begun. This work is the culmination of his three previous works. While I found all three of those books filled with helpful insights and profound analyses, his latest […]

It is fifty years since Iain Murray first addressed this conference when the Welsh ministers met with Dr. Lloyd-Jones in Cilgwyn. Geoff Thomas took these notes of the first and third of his addresses. SESSION ONE We gather together burdened with this concern to preach the word of God. What a supreme calling it is […]

In the eyes of B. B. Warfield, ‘Jonathan Edwards stands out as the one figure of real greatness in the intellectual life of colonial America’. Most commentators would agree on the greatness of Edwards’ contribution to America’s intellectual life, but Warfield is more specific: ‘From the first he was recognised as a remarkable preacher, as […]

It was a week ago on Thursday, June 1, that my family dropped me off at the Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport on a warm afternoon to catch a flight to LA, where I would have an 8 hour lay-over before boarding an international flight to the South Pacific where I would land on the main […]

What a master-preacher Dr Lloyd-Jones was! You can still hear his eloquence and feel his passion for souls as you read these pages many years after his death. The language pours out as it did from his pulpit. Once again I was fascinated as he moved slowly through just a part of Stephen’s speech in […]

It was the apologetic agenda of the 1837-41 edition that prompted the need for a fresh approach. That edition was slightly revised by Josiah Pratt in 1877, but the revisions did not address the main problems. By the middle of the twentieth century, the historical commentary not only appeared partisan (which it had always been), […]

Our Island Story, was written by Henrietta Marshall, and has been republished by Civitas and Galore Park, (2005, £25). One of the saddest aspects of the destruction of our educational system is children not learning any history at school and not reading a great deal of it at home. Quite apart from the need to […]

Genesis 2:21-23 “So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her […]

Heaven is a place of complete holiness. So it should surprise no one to find it written: “There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth” (Rev 21:27), which clearly indicates that no one with the least stain of sin can enter heaven, for sin is defiling. Obviously, no one who is […]

The volume Majesty in Misery, vol 3, Calvary’s Mournful Mountain, by C H Spurgeon, has been published by the Banner of Truth Trust (hardback, 392 pages). It consists of 25 sermons dealing with the experience of our Lord from when Pilate delivered Him to be crucified until His burial. Preached by Spurgeon (1834-1892) between 1856 […]

On a Tuesday morning, Pastor Overgaauw rolled out of bed at 3:00 am (or earlier?). By 3:15 am he and his car were rolling out of the driveway, and he was on his way to Nobleton. What would induce four pastors with flexible schedules to get up and start travelling at such an unusual hour? […]

An interesting find Browsing through the shelves of a Christian bookstall I discovered a book called The Gospel-Driven Church, a title that immediately aroused my interest. Written by Ian Stackhouse, Pastor of Guildford Baptist Church, it was all the more interesting because of its subtitle – “Retrieving Classical Ministries from Contemporary Revivalism.” The book, which […]

By Mrs. Mercy Sturgess of Barton-le-Clay recorded in 1983 at the age of 87. The Lord help me, if His will, to write a few things for His honour. It has been on my mind for some time that I should write a little of my beginnings, as I hope, of a work of grace […]

Charles Finney’s most astute critic was John Williamson Nevin (1803-86). Nevin is not well-known today, outside the circles of church history students, but in the view of some (which I share) he is something of a forgotten genius. Born in Pennsylvania of Scottish-Irish ancestry and raised a Presbyterian, Nevin studied at Princeton from 1823-28, where […]

Yochi Brandes is a well known Israeli author who was brought up in an Jewish Orthodox home and left for a non-religious life in her teen age years. The story she tells is a window on the inner conflict of many Jewish Orthodox youth. The text is Ms. Brandes’ as brought in the Israeli Ha’Arets, […]

Published in the Independent: 23 May 2006 “‘You don’t have to keep this child, you know’ is what I recall the paediatrician telling us when our younger daughter was diagnosed on the day of her birth as having Down’s Syndrome. My wife, however, remembers his remark as ‘You didn’t need to have this child, you […]

During my service in the R.A.F. the night-fighter squadrons took turns, usually a month at a time, flying a daily mission for the Meteorological Office. This was an ascent over a position ten miles offshore to record temperature and humidity beginning at 50 feet (15.24 metres) above sea level, then taking readings every 50 millibars […]

Sometimes you read something or hear something that takes your breath away. I was sitting recently in a conference listening to a friend richly expound a central theme in the ministry of Jeremiah. He then quoted some words of Geerhardus Vos that were literally stunning. Commenting on God’s words in Jeremiah 31:3, “I have loved […]

The Secret Key to Heaven – the Vital Importance of Private Prayer, was written by Thomas Brooks and published by The Banner of Truth Trust. It is a long time since we read such a profitable book – howbeit it comes with a gentle reproof for our spiritual slothfulness and indolence. The subject is the […]

Sunday had been a strange day. It was Whit Sunday but the church doors stayed shut. Yesterday too, Whit Monday was the same. None dared to go into the road without good reason. Because of the great dangers it had been decided that there would be no church services that day. They have prayed much […]

The rudder of a ship is a very small instrument. Yet, at the small flick of the rudder, the entire bulk of the ship is turned. Indeed, at the false flicking of the rudder, the ship is entirely ruined. James uses this example as a valid comparison to our tongues (James 3:4-5). At the flick […]

One of the myths of present day society, that is widely held and believed, is that all religions are the same. Oh, they may have superficial differences, but in those things that are basic there is no difference – they are all just many paths to the same God. All religions believe in a Supreme […]

To all Sunday school teachers I would like to give a brief word of encouragement. Perhaps you wonder if you are making a difference, or if the message you are trying to get across is being taken in by your students. This is my testimonial to a wonderful Sunday school teacher who made a marked […]