Articles

Few biographies of Spurgeon mention Johann Gerhard Oncken. The most extensive mentions are those of G. Holden Pike (Life and Work of C. H. Spurgeon) and Spurgeon himself in his Personal Notes in The Sword and the Trowel. Writing an appreciation of ‘our friend, Mr J. G. Oncken’ soon after his death in 1884, Spurgeon […]

The longer one lives in this world as a Christian, the more he or she becomes aware of the significance of their words and thoughts. The mind of the the believer plays a far more central role than we often realise. ‘As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he’, the scriptures say. We […]

This article is taken from a sermon preached by Christmas Evans in 1800, based on Romans 3:25 When our world fell from its first estate it became one vast prison. Its walls were adamant and unscaleable, its gates were brass and impregnable. Within, the people sat in darkness and shadow of death, without, inflexible Justice […]

‘Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.’  , Revelation 21:1 The ethnic cleansing and atrocities against the Christians in the Nuba mountains by Sudan, as well as that against the Christians in South Sudan, has been going on for years with no end in sight. Thousands of people have died, including children. […]

I haven’t been to a communion season in the Scottish Hebrides for three or four years and so when Hugh Ferrier invited me to come to their August Communion Season this year, I was delighted to accept. The High Free Church Stornoway The High Church in Stornoway was the largest Church of Scotland congregation in […]

‘And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.’ , Revelation 20:15 My dear friend, if you die without being a Christian, without being born again through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, if you never gain the life of God in […]

[A sermon preached at the morning service in St George’s-Tron Church, Glasgow, on 31 August 1997, following the announcement of the death in Paris, earlier that day, of Diana, Princess of Wales.] I urge, then, first of all, that requests, praers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone, for kings and all those in authority, […]

Peter Jeffery was raised in Neath, coming from a fine Welsh working-man’s terraced home. He never lost his roots in that grand culture and communicated the gospel to the people there in a way that they easily understood. Wherever in the world he traveled people grasped his message and loved his preaching. He came at […]

Richard Sibbes was born at Tostock, Suffolk, in 1577 and went to school in Bury St Edmunds. His father, ‘a good sound-hearted Christian’, at first intended that Richard should follow his own trade as a wheelwright, but the boy’s ‘strong inclination to his books, and well-profiting therein’ led to his going up to St John’s […]

An extract from Ned B. Stonehouse, J. Gresham Machen: A Biographical Memoir (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1987) pp. 198-200. (The ordination of J. Gresham Machen took place on June 23, 1914, at Plainsboro, NJ, just outside Princeton. Although few details have been preserved of the occasion, as Stonehouse reveals, the re is a manuscript […]

A Trip to Prague I had never been to Prague and had the scantiest knowledge of the Czech Republic, but one day I was reading a newspaper and in the Travel section saw a cheap three day excursion offered to Prague. I thought about it and booked a flight and an hotel there. The Czech […]

Today (Monday 21st August), the remains of Erroll Hulse, a dear friend and elder statesman in the Reformed faith, will be interred in Cuckfield, England. My mind is, therefore, very much in that part of the world as the sun comes up here in the heart of Africa. I wish I could be there to […]

One sometimes meets Christians who use scriptural words and thoughts with no more feeling than if they were licking stamps. They seem to belong to a religious world whose citizens live always north of the Arctic circle of emotion. Their spiritual affections are buried beneath yards of ice and snow. When they venture to talk about […]

‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.’ , Revelation 14:13 I wrote on this very important and comforting issue a few weeks ago. I wish now, however, to take it one step further. […]

The members of First Church (not the real name of the church) consistently made false accusations against one another. They would regularly throw verbal mud at one another. At times, they would even form alliances and fight against one another. Some of their claims were silly. One elder accused a teenager of rebelliously going to […]