• John Houghton

    The Life And Death Of John Houghton

    He was often engaged to preach at different places, and should have gone to Chorley at the time he was taken ill. He was a subscriber to the "Gospel Standard" for more than 20 years. During his short illness, (not a fortnight,) he was tried very much by the enemy of souls; so much so that he said he thought that Satan came to him with a net to catch him, and he drew up his net, "but," he said, "I was not in the net. He knocked me down, but he could not wound me, for I had a helmet of brass on my head." Sometimes he would say he had had to fight some hard battles; and then I heard him pray fervently:…

  • William Petty

    The Life And Ministry Of William Petty

    He was one of those of whom I could say with assurance that his name was in the book of life; for having been closely acquainted with him for years I can bear testimony to his character, both as a Christian and as a Minister. As a Christian, I should say at once that he had a religion of the right sort, a religion that came from God, and therefore went back to God again. He was always free to confess that he had nothing but what he had received; and being the subject of that grace which makes a man little in his own eyes, he was very averse to that kind of religion which aims to look big in the eyes of others,…

  • John Mosley

    The Life And Ministry Of John Mosley

    He was a preacher of the Gospel, and was a very useful man as a supply to the many churches which are without a stated minister in both Lancashire and Yorkshire. He was upon the walls of Zion for about 25 years, and his usefulness is best known in those places where he was called to preach. He maintained the doctrines of grace in his ministry, not only in the theory, but truly so, as being clearly revealed in the heart. He also preached an experimental religion, as well as a practical one, in harmony with the glorious doctrines of sovereign grace. His ministry, upon the whole, was well received by the lovers of truth, but some of his friends used to say sometimes that…

  • Thomas Chandler

    The Life And Ministry Of Thomas Chandler

    My dear Sir, I send you a brief account of the departure of our beloved friend, Mr. Thomas Chandler, for many years the honest and faithful minister of Edenbridge. He departed this life Thursday, March the 29th, 1866, in the 69th year of his age. I deeply regret not being able to gather together more of the facts connected with his life; but as he has not left anything behind him in writing, and, true to his usual quiet and retiring character, had forbidden his widow to say anything about his departure beyond that "he is gone to eternal rest," the information I can supply must of necessity be very brief and fragmentary. As far as I can gather, he was called by grace under…

  • George Ella's Biographical Sketches,  John Foxe

    John Foxe (1517-1587): The Acts and Monuments Of The Church

    Born at the birth of the Continental Reformation, one of the most illustrious figures in the English and Continental Reformation is that of John Foxe, the martyrologist. Few Reformers had his overall grasp of Biblical theology and church history and few were as all-round as he in applying Christian virtues to every sphere of everyday life. Foxe was born in Boston, Lincolnshire in 1517, the very year that Luther nailed up his ninety-five theses to the door of Wittenberg’s Schlosskirche. We know little of his family background apart from the fact that his father died when he was an infant and his mother soon remarried. Foxe was tutored by his step-father until he entered Brazennose College, Oxford at the age of sixteen. At this time,…

  • George Ella's Biographical Sketches,  Katharina Luther

    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…