A good preacher should have these qualities and virtues: first, to teach systematically; second, he should have a ready wit; read more

A good preacher should have these qualities and virtues: first, to teach systematically; second, he should have a ready wit; third, he should be eloquent; fourth, he should have a good voice; fifth, a good memory; sixth, he should know when to make an end; seventh, he should be sure of his doctrine; eighth, he should venture and engage body and blood, wealth and honor, in the world; ninth, he should suffer himself to be mocked and jeered of everyone.

Feast of Oswald, King of Northumbria, Martyr, 642 To have faith is to rely upon Christ, the Person, read more

Feast of Oswald, King of Northumbria, Martyr, 642 To have faith is to rely upon Christ, the Person, with the whole heart. It is not the understanding of the mind, not the theological opinion, not creed, not organization, not ritual. It is the koinonia of the whole personality with God and Christ, ... This experience of communion with Christ is itself the continual attitude of dependence on the Saviour which we call faith.

We have peace with God by the righteousness of Christ, and peace of conscience by the fruits of righteousness in read more

We have peace with God by the righteousness of Christ, and peace of conscience by the fruits of righteousness in ourselves.

It is not God's way that great blessings should descend without the sacrifice first of great sufferings. If the truth read more

It is not God's way that great blessings should descend without the sacrifice first of great sufferings. If the truth is to be spread to any wide extent among the people, how can we dream, how can we hope, that trial and trouble shall not accompany its going forth.

Commemoration of Gladys Aylward, Missionary in China, 1970 Religion is the same that ever it was, only it suffers read more

Commemoration of Gladys Aylward, Missionary in China, 1970 Religion is the same that ever it was, only it suffers by them that make profession of it. Never was there less regard for the Person and offices of Christ, of His grace, and of the benefits of His mediation, among them that are called Christians, than is found among many at this day.

Any single verse of the Bible, taken in isolation, may actually be dangerous to your spiritual health. Every part of read more

Any single verse of the Bible, taken in isolation, may actually be dangerous to your spiritual health. Every part of it must be read in relation to the whole message.

The Christian cell in a factory or a professional circle, funding its own activities, deciding its own pattern of work, read more

The Christian cell in a factory or a professional circle, funding its own activities, deciding its own pattern of work, studying the Bible and perhaps celebrating the Lord's supper as an entity on its own, comes very much closer to Independency as Robert Browne saw it than the unholy isolationism of a prosperous suburban church, with 200 members who scarcely know each other by sight. If a sizable proportion of the Free Church ministry were enabled to become itinerant once again -- not necessarily itinerant in the geographical sense, but itinerant in the complex mazes of contemporary society, fathers in God to Christian organisms evolved by the lay men and women who spend their lives in these mazes -- new heart would be put into both ministry and laity, and incidentally, new impetus given to the search for Christian unity.

It is always the simple things that change our lives. And these things never happen when you are looking for read more

It is always the simple things that change our lives. And these things never happen when you are looking for them to happen. Life will reveal answers at the pace life wishes to do so. You feel like running, but life is on a stroll. This is how God does things.

Beginning a Lenten series on prayer: If we would talk less and pray more about them, things would be read more

Beginning a Lenten series on prayer: If we would talk less and pray more about them, things would be better than they are in the world: at least, we should be better enabled to bear them.