To the Ends of the Earth
It has often been maintained that the sixteenth-century Reformers had a poorly developed missiology, that missions was an area to which they gave little thought. Yes, this argument runs, they…
Michael Haykin
John Calvin’s Aversion to Being Remembered
Of all the sixteenth-century Reformers John Calvin (1506-1564) was the most reluctant to discuss details of his life in works destined for public consumption. As he told Cardinal Jacopo Sadoleto,…
The Record of a Revival
In the previous posts in this series, we have been considering the revitalization of the eighteenth-century Baptist community. Recall, that in 1750, there were only 150 of their churches throughout…
Continual Prayer for Revival
In the last post on the revitalization of the eighteenth-century Baptists, we considered the way in which prayer was a central cause. The passing years did not diminish John Sutcliff’s…
Praying for Revival
Prayer has invariably preceded revival. The revitalization of the Baptists in the eighteenth century was no exception. As Andrew Fuller (1754-1815) Fuller emphasized in his Causes of Declension in Religion,…
Revitalizing an Eighteenth-Century Christian Community: Baptists Seeking Revival
Theological Reformation Eighteenth-century Baptists did not emerge from their spiritual “winter” until the last two or three decades of the century. Again, there were a variety of reasons for what…
“Faith that Maketh a Man Righteous”: Hugh Latimer on Being Saved by Faith Alone
The English Reformer, Hugh Latimer (c.1485-1555) is probably best remembered today for his stirring statement at the time of his Oxford martyrdom in the autumn of 1555 when he urged…
Particular Baptists and the Outpouring of the Spirit
It is vital to note that while many Particular Baptists were in the state of declension (as described in part 1 of this series of studies on the renewal of…
Particular Baptists and the Need for Revival
In the seventeenth century one of the most spiritually alive denominations in the British Isles were the Particular or Calvinistic Baptists.1 From the establishment in 1638 of their first congregation…
Praying for Heretics: Irenaeus of Lyons’ First Prayer for the Gnostics
How should we respond to heresy? As we have seen in our previous article, the early Christian theologian Irenaeus of Lyons (c.130-c.200) is a great model here. There must be…