Articles

One day in mid January I was reading the newspaper that reported that a request from the late Scottish author Iain Banks had been finally rejected by the local government. He had died at 59 years of age six years ago and had wanted his ashes to be scattered in various places in the world, […]

Your letter, which I received a few days ago, was most acceptable to me; it gave me no small joy, when I heard formerly of your design, and saw your rules, whereof I heartily approve. I desire to bless God that in this degenerate age when atheism, infidelity, and all kinds of wickedness abound, and […]

A Christian journal recently gave a detailed account of an effort made to bring young people under the influence of the Gospel. A typical ‘Cellar Club’ was hired, and in an atmosphere of dimmed lights, soft drinks, cigarette smoke and ‘Christian beat music’, hundreds of teenagers were given an opportunity to talk to young believers […]

The present is a time not for ease or pleasure, but for earnest and prayerful work. A terrible crisis unquestionably has arisen in the Church. In the ministry of evangelical churches are to be found hosts of those who reject the gospel of Christ. By the equivocal use of traditional phrases, by the representation of differences […]

This excerpt is taken from chapter three of Maturity by Sinclair B. Ferguson, a new release from the Banner of Truth Trust. * * * In the early years of a plant’s life, the basic function of pruning is not to produce fruit immediately, but to prepare for future fruit. Good pruning helps create the proper form […]

To do good to others, is an honour that comes from God only. The very desire is Christ-like; and those that are Christ’s have both the desire and the power. If you have lived without Christ, you have done nothing either for God or man in the past. If you would now take Christ, what […]

The world today is looking for a note of optimism. The dark clouds of war hover ominously over the inter­national scene. Political confusion, economic un­certainty, and social unrest produce anxiety and fear in various parts of the world. Amid all our scientific and technological progress, the twentieth-century man seems disillusioned with the promises of peace […]

Now, you are aware that there are different theories of Redemption. All Christians hold that Christ died to redeem, but many Christians do not teach the same redemption. We differ as to the nature, of atonement, and as to the design of redemption. For instance, the Arminian holds that Christ when He died, did not […]

In the report of the Archbishop’s Committee on Evangelism, published in 1945 under the title: Towards the Conversion of England, the work of evangelism is conveniently defined as follows: ‘so to present Christ Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit, that men shall come to put their trust in God through Him, to accept […]

‘Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.’ –2 Corinthians 12:10 Notes from a Sermon of the Rev. Thomas Jones (1752-1845). The subject before us can be understood only by Christian warriors, and it is understood by all who […]

‘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 […]

The following is abridged from a pamphlet by James Begg (1803-1883), The Art of Preaching, printed in 1863, twenty years after more than 400 ministers had left the Church of Scotland to form the Free Church of Scotland. While in the context in which Begg wrote there were no doubt peculiar historical circumstances affecting the […]

‘Then shall the Kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. . . at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh….. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour […]

‘The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.’ — 2 Timothy 4:13 Paul is in prison and in a short time is to lose his life at the instigation of the Roman Emperor Nero. But in prison he invites Timothy to bring with him […]

It belongs to God to put the world right; the Christian’s first duty is to put himself right. In so doing the believer takes the first step towards influencing others for good. But it is a difficult and an unwelcome task and one in which he can expect little help or encouragement from others. Repentance […]