Author Archives: adminjohnshields

Audrey Isabella Riche, for 44 years a member of the church at Bethel, Luton, and formerly at Hanover, Tunbridge Wells, passed away on September 4th, aged 81. The following is her own account of her early days, written in May 1986. Sometimes I am asked: ‘How did you come to go to chapel?’ and I […]

William Knibb was not only a great preacher but he also played a great part in the abolition of slavery. In fact in 1988, on the 150th anniversary of the abolition of slavery he was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit by the Jamaican government. On 7th September 1803 William Knibb and his twin sister […]

The Word of God has much to say to us about ‘the deceitfulness of sin’ (Heb. 3:13). The evil that is sin will do all it can to persuade you to taste its wares, to embrace its offers, to sit at its table and eat its food. I would like in this pastoral letter to […]

The translator’s ‘Introduction’ to Faith Unfeigned – Four Sermons concerning Matters Most Useful for the Present Time with A Brief Exposition of Psalm 871 by John Calvin. The last half-century has seen a steady growth of interest in Calvin’s work as preacher. The Reformer’s sermons place us at the centre of his pastoral and theological […]

This interview is with a retired minister of the Free Reformed Churches of North America (FRCNA), the Rev Henry Van Essen and his wife, Engelina. It took place in their home on Thursday, August 11, 2010. Rev and Mrs Van Essen live in a ‘granny suite’ that’s part of the home of Walter and Marsha […]

Again he measured a thousand cubits, and it was a river that I could not ford, for the water has risen, enough water to swim in, a river that could not be forded. (Ezek. 47:5) I have travelled countless times over the dam at Jinja, Uganda, the source of the Nile River, on my way […]

The Dutch scholar Erasmus quipped ‘When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.’ But perhaps you may feel like the author of Ecclesiastes: ‘Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.’ How should the Christian approach the topic […]

When interest in the churches begins to centre round the visual and the sensual it is commonly a sign of impending apostasy. By ‘sensual’ I mean that which appeals to the senses of man (sight, smell, hearing), as opposed to ‘spirit’, that is, the capacity that belongs to those born of the Spirit of God. […]

My friend, John J. Murray, gave me a booklet when we were at a meeting in Glasgow recently. He and members of his family were involved in its reproduction. It is the diary and life of Cathie MacRae of Lochalsh who was born in 1907 and died in Invergordon Sanatorium in 1948. She started to […]

There is a God and it is possible for us to know him. But he may be known only because he has revealed himself. He has done so in creation. As we look at the world around us and the heavens above us, we should conclude that it was impossible for any part of the […]

Getting the Reformation Wrong: Correcting Some Misunderstandings James R. Payton Jr. Downers Grove: IVP, 2010 240 pp, paperback, $23.00 ISBN: 978 0 83083 880 6 The Reformation is dear to Reformed people – after all, it contains our historical and theological heritage. However, it is possible to hold misguided notions about this significant sixteenth-century event. […]

It was about four o’clock one October morning. I had been sleeping well, but was awakened by the sound of a wind such as I had never heard in my life before. From the rooftop of my house, tiles were being blown about and seemed to make a most frightening noise as they came crashing […]

And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. (Acts 2:3) If Brett McCracken’s observation is correct – that seventy per cent of those age eighteen to twenty-two, who grew up in the church, leave it never to return again,1 then surely we can agree […]

All of you must surely have noticed the great emphasis there is on doctrine in the New Testament, the many exhortations given to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. Equally, there are many solemn warnings given. ‘If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into […]

The text of a letter written by Charles Hodge of Princeton Theological Seminary on behalf of the two General Assemblies of the Presbyterian Church in the USA, explaining why the Pope’s invitation to Protestants to send delegates to the first Vatican Council of 1869-70 was being declined. To Pius the Ninth, Bishop of Rome, By […]

Become doers of the word. (James 1:22) Jean Jacques Rousseau, one of the major architects of the French Enlightenment and consequently the French Revolution, was born in Geneva in 1712. He grew up in a Calvinist home and attended church regularly, later converting to Roman Catholicism so that he could stay in the good graces […]

This year marks the 500th anniversary of the birth of the martyr John Bradford (1510-55). As a broken-hearted sinner, a self-condemning saint, a firm believer, a man of prayer, a sharp reprover of sin, a preacher with power, a comforter of others and a staunch martyr ‘for Christ’s gospel’s sake’ (his own words), Bradford was […]

It is natural for us to take pleasure in the obvious and pleasant blessings of the Lord and to dread and do all we can to avoid his more dark and painful providences. It is natural for us to expect and even to demand only the pleasant blessings while holding the trying times in contempt, […]

When thinking ‘Puritan,’ we will limit ourselves to the period 1600-1688 (alas, no Ryle!). In addition to the evangelical party of the Church of England (‘the Puritans’ proper), we ought also to consider the works of Independents, Presbyterians, Baptists, etc. My goal here is to whet your appetite from each of three areas: the praying […]

They whom God hath accepted in his Beloved, effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace; but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved. Westminster Confession of Faith God sovereignly decrees that none of his elect shall perish. As a […]

For the promise is for you and your children. (Acts 2:39) My wife was recently walking in a West Hartford park and met a young mother with her two children. As Wini struck up a conversation with the mom it was clear that she was exhausted from the demands of motherhood. Wini then used one […]

At the age of twelve, I joined a local church of one of the large denominations. Previous to this I had received a lapel pin for memorizing the Ten Commandments and the books of the Bible. These things never completely left my mind, but neither did they save me. I can honestly say that I […]

The Christian life is simultaneously a great joy and a great struggle. The joy and the struggle are synchronous, not sequential. It is not that we somehow graduate beyond the struggle to a life of ‘joy and peace in believing.’ To think this is to fail to understand just what the Christian life is. Let […]

Stuart Olyott gave the 2010 Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones lecture on preaching at the John Owen Centre in London on September 27. Mr Olyott began with a tribute and a statement of his personal indebtedness to Dr Lloyd-Jones, mentioning hearing him on spiritual warfare in 1964 at the last Campbell Morgan lecture and on that famous […]

‘Alexander’s choice of subject matter, and the way he handles it, reveals a depth of maturity and humility that only decades of seeking and learning about God could produce . . . a refreshingly original explanation of timeless, Scriptural truths.’ [John Bird on Eric Alexander’s Our Great God and Saviour at the ‘Discerning Reader’ website.] […]