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Katharina Luther (1499-1552): The Morning Star Of Wittenberg
They say that behind every successful man there is a woman; the point being that the man would have been less a man without his wife. This piece of earthly wisdom is rarely applied to Martin Luther. The German Reformer is invariably depicted as “The Monk Who Changed the World”; the idea being that ingredients of Reform are to be found in cloistered, celibate seclusion. Such a conception might suit Rome but it is foreign to Biblical thinking. The alarming fact is that Luther’s critics, of whatever category, often appear to be blissfully unaware that Luther did his best work as a happily married man. Nick-names often reveal traces of character hidden by lexical nomenclature. Any student of Luther needs to notice how he addressed…
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The Life And Ministry Of Mr. Gingell
The following was written by himself: "It pleased the Lord to call me by his grace when young, in the year 1828. I went out one Sabbath morning with some companions, walking the fields, fearless and careless of everything. When we had been out half an hour, I heard a voice which spoke to my conscience. I passed on, and said nothing to my companions. I believed then it was a voice from heaven. In about three minutes the same voice spoke again, but rather louder. I did not say anything even then; but I had not gone many yards, before I heard the same voice louder and nearer. Then I said to those with me, ‘I have heard a voice speak to me three…
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John Chamberlain: And His Exemplary Missionary Success In India
Baptist missionary John Chamberlain (1777-1821) and his wife were called to India before the Baptist Mission Society (BMS) there had been able to organise itself for practical missionary work. There had thus been very few converts prior to their arrival, especially compared with the work of former and contemporary missionaries in India which very quickly gained true converts in large numbers. Only Dr John Thomas, one of the first Baptists, appeared to be pulling his weight in the early days of the mission but that often proved disastrous as Thomas could not handle money though his preaching gained the first mission converts amongst the Portuguese and Indians. A good number of thriving churches had already been planted in India, including several in the trading towns…
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John Howard: The Prisoner’s Friend
Baron Donald Soper is remembered for his London Hyde Park and Tower Hill soap-box campaign for a social gospel and his claim that Christians neglected the poor and needy. Whether this claim was just or not, Christians always need to be reminded that social responsibilities go hand in hand with practical religion. As James says (1:27), spotless saints are social workers. Seen from a brighter point of view, since the days of Ulrich Zwingli and Henry Bullinger, whose preaching served to ban poverty in their cantons, Reformed Christians have emphasised their social responsibilities to a high, but not over-balanced, degree. Indeed. from the sixteenth century to our present day evangelical Christians have shown what true religion is according to James, producing such social reformers as…
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Matthew Parker (1504-1575): Cleaning Up After Mary
Matthew Parker was the first Reformed Archbishop of Canterbury after the Marian persecutions ended. His task was far from easy as Mary’s tyranny and popish superstitions had left a dirty stain on the entire country. Parker’s person, work, testimony and deep learning, under Providence, enabled England to sweep away the past and embark on a veritable Golden Age for the Church which lasted throughout Elizabeth’s and James’ reigns until brought to a halt in the middle of the following century. I have chosen the term ‘Golden Age’ carefully, not so as to deny the many problems both theological and political that faced England throughout this period but to affirm that hardly any other age since then, including even the Great Awakenings of the 18th century,…
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The Life And Ministry Of Stephen Knight
He was baptized in the last century, and was afterwards connected with W. Huntington; and being at that time a tailor in Oxford Street, he worked for Mr. H. In conversation with him, he has told me that when the sentence of death was sealed in his conscience he was for some time on the borders of despair, concluding that his case was hopeless. Out of this position the Lord graciously delivered him by a special manifestation of his grace and mercy. He continued to sit under Mr. H. with much soul profit until the death of that distinguished servant of God; and such was the affectionate remembrance he had of his former pastor that his countenance would at once brighten at the mention of…
