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John Owen

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Death of Death Christ John Owen  -  Congregational theologian Source: Wikipedia Born at Stadhampton, Oxfordshire, Owen was educated at Queen’s College, Oxford, where he studied classics and theology and was ordained. Because of the “high-church” innovations introduced by Archbishop William … Continue reading

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William Perkins

William Perkins William Perkins was born in 1558 to Thomas and Hannah Perkins in the village of Marston Jabbett, in Bulkington parish, Warwickshire. As a youth, he indulged in recklessness, profanity, and drunkenness. In 1577, he entered Christ’s College in … Continue reading

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John Newton

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John Newton  -  Evangelical divine and hymn writer Source: Wikipedia Newton was born in London July 24, 1725, the son of a commander of a merchant ship which sailed the Mediterranean. When John was eleven, he went to sea with … Continue reading

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Robert Leighton

Robert Leighton (1611-1684)   Archbishop of Glasgow, was born, probably in London (others say at Ulishaven, Forfarshire), in 1611, the eldest son of Dr Alexander Leighton, and the author of Zion’s Plea against the Prelacie, whose terrible sufferings for having … Continue reading

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Matthew Mead

Matthew Mead (1629-1699)   During the time of Oliver Cromwell’s rule, Mead identified with the Independents. In 1658, Cromwell appointed Mead curate of Mew Chapel, Shadwell, near Stepney; however, Mead lost that position after the Restoration.” Joel Beeke, Meet the … Continue reading

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Walter Marshall

Walter Marshall was born in 1628 at Bishops Wearmouth in Durham, England. At age eleven, he went to study at Winchester College. He then became a fellow at New College, Oxford, from 1648 to 1657. He graduated with a Bachelor … Continue reading

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Cotton Mather

Cotton Mather (1663-1728) (b. Feb. 12, 1663, Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony [U.S.]—d. Feb. 13, 1728, Boston), “American Congregational minister and author, supporter of the old order of the ruling clergy, who became the most celebrated of all New England Puritans. … Continue reading

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Andrew Murray

Andrew Murray  -  South-African Dutch Reformed leader, author of  devotional writings Murray was Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Murray became a noted missionary leader. His father was a Scottish Presbyterian serving the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa, and … Continue reading

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F. B. Meyer

F. B. Meyer  -  Baptist pastor and evangelist in England Frederick Brotherton Meyer  was born in London.  He attended Brighton College  and graduated from the University of London in 1869.  He studied theology at Regent’s Park College, Oxford and  began … Continue reading

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Joseph Mede

Joseph Mede  -  English Biblical scholar Joseph Mede (or Joseph Mead)  was a Fellow of Christ’s College, Cambridge from 1613. He is now remembered as a Biblical scholar. He was also a naturalist and Egyptologist. He was a Hebraist, and … Continue reading

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Thomas Manton

Thomas Manton  -  Puritan clergyman Born in Laurence Lydiard, Somerset, Manton was educated locally and then at Hart Hall, Oxford where he graduated BA in 1639.  Joseph Hall, bishop of Norwich, ordained him deacon the following year. He never took … Continue reading

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Alexander MacLaren

Alexander MacLaren  -  Baptist preacher and expositor Maclaren was born in Glasgow on February 11, 1826, and died in Manchester on May 5, 1910. He had been for almost sixty-five years a minister, entirely devoted to his calling.  He lived … Continue reading

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William Law

William Law  -  English spiritual writer and mystic Law  was born at King’s Cliffe, Northamptonshire. In 1705 he entered as a student at Emmanuel College, Cambridge; in 1711 he was elected fellow of his college and was ordained. He resided … Continue reading

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Hugh Latimer

Source: Wikipedia Hugh Latimer   -  Bishop of Worcester and Reformer Born in Leicestershire and educated at Cambridge, Latimer was at first antagonistic to the Reformation in England. He was converted in his thinking under the influence of Thomas Bilney, … Continue reading

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Martin Luther

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A Mighty Fortress Martin Luther  -  German reformer Martin Luther was born to peasant stock on November 10, 1483 in Eisleben in the Holy Roman Empire – in what is today eastern Germany.  Soon after Luther’s birth, his family moved … Continue reading

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Christopher Love

Christopher Love Christopher Love was born in Cardiff, Wales, in 1618. At the age of fourteen, he went to hear William Erbury, vicar of St. Mary’s in Cardiff, who would later stray into mysticism. His wife later wrote how Love … Continue reading

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John Lightfoot

John Lightfoot was another Cambridge-educated man. He had a reputation for oratory. His early career was chiefly scholarly and pastoral in several assignments. As a delegate to the Assembly he kept a journal; this has become a valuable historical record … Continue reading

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Abraham Kuyper

Abraham Kuyper  -  Dutch Calvinist statesman and theologian Source: Wikipedia Widely recognized as historian, theologian, philosopher, writer, and professor-educator, Kuyper was born in Maassluis, the son of a State Church (Reformed) pastor, later to accompany his family to the university … Continue reading

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John Knox

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John Knox  -  Scottish reformer Little information has survived about his early life, beyond that he was was probably born in Haddington, about 17 miles outside of Edinburgh and later educated at St Andrews just at the time reformed Christian … Continue reading

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Thomas Hooker

Thomas Hooker (1586-1647) Thomas Hooker was born in Leicestershire around 1586. He was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge and became Rector of Esher in Surrey in 1620. In the will of Thomas Williarnson, a churchwarden of Chelmsford Parish Church (now … Continue reading

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John Angell James

John Angell James (1785-1859) John Angell James was an English Nonconformist clergyman and writer. He was born at Blandford Forum. After seven years apprenticeship to a linen-draper in Poole, Dorset, he decided to become a preacher, and in 1802 he … Continue reading

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Robert Jamieson

Robert Jamieson  -  (1802-1880), Scottish divine Jamieson was the son of a baker in Edinburgh, born there on Jan 3, 1802.  He was educated at the high school and matriculated at Edinburgh University with the intention of of studying for … Continue reading

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Joseph Hall

  Joseph Hall received his early education at the local Ashby Grammar School, founded by his father’s patron the Earl, and was later sent (1589) to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. The college was Puritan in tone, and Hall was undoubtedly under … Continue reading

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Matthew Henry

Matthew was Philip Henry’s second son. Born prematurely to his mother Katherine Henry, he apparently suffered from a weak constitution during his childhood. But what he lacked in physical health he made up for in spiritual vigor. Schooled by his … Continue reading

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John Howe

John Howe English Puritan divine, born on the 17th of May 1630 at Loughborough, Leicestershire … Though excelled by Baxter as a pulpit orator, and by Owen in exegetical ingenuity and in almost every department of theological learning, Howe compares … Continue reading

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Thomas Gouge

Thomas Gouge, English Puritan (1605 — October 29, 1681) was the son of William Gouge and a noted minister in his own right. He was ejected from his pulpit for nonconformity in 1662. He was known for his generosity and … Continue reading

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George Gillespie

Rev. George Gillespie was one of that remarkable band of statesmanlike ministers that God gave to Scotland in the seventeenth century. Gillespie died while yet a young man, but before he died, as Rutherford wrote to him on his deathbed, … Continue reading

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William Guthrie

William Guthrie  -  Scottish Presbyterian Minister and Author When the Lord raises up a number of faithful ministers of the gospel at once, as He did in Scotland with the Covenanters in the seventeenth century, not all of them are … Continue reading

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William Gurnall

William Gurnall  -  English author and clergyman William  was born at King’s Lynn, Norfolk, was educated at the free grammar school of his native town, and in 1631 was nominated to the Lynn scholarship in Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he … Continue reading

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WILLIAM CAVE

WILLIAM CAVE (1637–1713), English divine, was born at Pickwell in Leicestershire . He was educated at St John’s College,Cambridge, and successively held the livings of Islington (1662), of All-Hallows the Great, Thames Street, London (1679), and of Isleworth in Middlesex … Continue reading

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William Bradford

William Bradford (1590-1657) As a boy in England, William Bradford was caught up in the fervour of the Protestant Reformation and became a dedicated member of the Separatist Church, the “left wing” of Puritanism, when only 12. Seven years later … Continue reading

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Thomas Case

Thomas Case (1598 – 1682) Nonconformist Divine. Was born at Bexley in 1598, and educated at Christ Church, Oxford. Being expelled from the iving of Erpingham, in Norfolk, for Nonconformity, he joined the Parliament, and was appointed, when that party … Continue reading

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SAMUEL BOLTON

SAMUEL BOLTON Samuel Bolton was born in London in 1606, was educated at Manchester School, matriculated as a pensioner at Christ’s College, Cambridge, in 1625, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1629 and a Master of Arts … Continue reading

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John Ball

John Ball (October 1585 – 1640) was an English puritan divine, born in Cassington, Oxfordshire. After taking his BA degree from St Mary’s Hall, Oxford, in 1608, he went into Cheshire to act as tutor to the children of Lady … Continue reading

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Edmund Calamy

Edmund Calamy (February 1600- October 29, 1666) Known as “the elder” he was an English Presbyterian church leader. Of Huguenot descent, he was born in Walbrook, London, and educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where his opposition to the Arminianism excluded … Continue reading

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David Clarkson

David Clarkson Richard Baxter commended David Clarkson for “solid judgment, healing moderate principles, acquaintance with the Fathers, great ministerial abilities, and a godly upright life” (Reliquiae Baxterianae, 1696, 3:97). Born at Bradford, in Yorkshire, Clarkson was educated at Trinity College, … Continue reading

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William Bridge

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William Bridge was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and served for several years as a fellow there as well. He served a five-year pastorate in Essex before accepting a call to Norwich. As a non-conformist, in 1637 he was officially … Continue reading

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Thomas Cartwright

Thomas Cartwright (c. 1535 – December 27, 1603) was an English Puritan churchman. He was born in Hertfordshire, and studied divinity at St John’s College, Cambridge. On the accession of Queen Mary I of England in 1553, he was forced … Continue reading

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William Bates

On the utility of Biography or personal history, there is a general concurrence of opinion. Some there are, who, in point of utility, judge its claims to be superior to those of general history. Without presuming to decide those claims, … Continue reading

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Simeon Ashe

Simeon Ashe was educated at Emmanuel College at Cambridge in the early seventeenth century and began his preaching ministry in Staffordshire, England. Later he was chaplain to the Earl of Manchester, also serving faithfully as a chaplain in the Army … Continue reading

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Ralph Erskine

Ralph Erskine (1685-1752) , Scottish divine, brother of Ebenezer Erskine (q.v.), was See also: BORN, IGNAZ, EDLER VON (1742–1791) born on the 18th of March 1685 . After studying at the university of Edinburgh, he was in 1711 ordained assistant … Continue reading

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Isaac Ambrose

ISAAC AMBROSE Isaac Ambrose was born in 1604, the son of Richard Ambrose, vicar of Ormskirk, Lancashire. Entering Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1621, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1624, and was ordained to the ministry. He … Continue reading

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Joseph Alleine

Joseph Alleine (1634-1668) Born at Devizes, Wiltshire, early in 1634, Joseph Alleine loved and served the Lord from childhood. A contemporary witness identified 1645 as the year of Alleine’s “setting forth in the Christian race.” From eleven years of age … Continue reading

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David Dickson

David Dickson (1583-1662) David Dickson was born about the year 1583. He was the only son of Mr John Dick or Dickson, merchant in Glasgow, whose father was an old feuar and possessor of some lands in the barony of … Continue reading

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Thomas Doolittle

Thomas Doolittle (1630-1707) Thomas Doolittle was born at Kidderminster, Worcestershire. While at the grammar school in Kidderminster, Doolittle heard Richard Baxter preach sermons that were later published as The Saints’ Everlasting Rest (1653). Those addresses led to Doolittle’s conversion in … Continue reading

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Jeremiah Burroughs

Burroughs studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and was graduated M.A. in 1624, but left the university because of non-conformity. He was assistant to Edmund Calamy at Bury St. Edmunds, and in 1631 became rector of Tivetshall, Norfolk. He was suspended … Continue reading

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Thomas Brooks

Thomas Brooks Thomas Brooks was born in 1608. He entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1625, where such New England Puritans as Thomas Hooker, John Cotton, and Thomas Shepard were also educated, but he appears to have left before graduating. Brooks … Continue reading

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Thomas Goodwin

Goodwin, Thomas (1600-1680) “Congregational divine. Born in Norfolk and educated at Cambridge, he became a fellow of St. Catherine’s and vicar of Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge. On becoming a Congregationalist in 1634 he resigned and moved to London. In 1639 … Continue reading

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John Gill

John Gill  -   (1697 – 1771), English Baptist, Biblical  scholar,  staunch Calvinist Source: Wikipedia John Gill  was born November 23, 1697 in Kettering, Northamptonshire.  In his youth, he attended Kettering Grammar School, mastering the Latin classics and learning Greek by … Continue reading

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Thomas Fuller

Thomas Fuller  -  English churchman and historian Source: Wikipedia Fuller was born in Aldwinkle St Peter’s, Northamptonshire, C England, UK. He studied at Cambridge, was appointed preacher to the Chapel Royal at the Savoy, London (1641–3), and during the Civil … Continue reading

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John Foxe

John Foxe  -  English historian and martyrologist

John Foxe

Source; Wikipedia

John Foxe (1517–18 April 1587) was an English historian and martyrologist, the author of what is popularly known as Foxe’s Book of Martyrs (properly The Acts and Monuments), an account of Christian martyrs throughout Western history but emphasizing the sufferings of English Protestants and proto-Protestants from the fourteenth century through the reign of Mary I. Widely owned and read by English Puritans, the book helped mould British popular opinion about the Catholic Church for several centuries

 

 

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John Flavel

John Flavel  -  Puritan theologian Source: Wikipedia Flavel was born at Bromsgrove in Wordesterchire.  He was the elder son of Richard Flavel, described in contemporary records as “a painful and eminent minister.” After receiving his early education, partly at home … Continue reading

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Desiderius Erasmus

Desiderius Erasmus  -  Humanist scholar Source: Wikipedia The Dutch humanist, Desiderius Erasmus, was born at Rotterdam, apparently on October 28, 1466, the illegitimate son of a physician’s daughter by a man who afterwards turned monk. He was called Gerrit Gerritszoon … Continue reading

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Jonathan Edwards

Jonathan Edwards  -  American puritan theologian and philosopher Source: Wikipedia Edwards was born in East Windsor, Connecticut, to Timothy Edwards, pastor of East Windsor, and Esther Edwards. The only son in a family of eleven children, he entered Yale in … Continue reading

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Philip Doddridge

Philip Doddridge  -  Non-conformist and hymn-writer Source: hymntime.com/tch Eighteenth century England produced many excellent hymnwriters whose hymns are still sung today – Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley, and the Puritan Philip Doddridge, who died on October 26, 1751. Philip Doddridge was … Continue reading

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Thomas Cranmer

Thomas Cranmer  -  Archbishop of Canterbury and author of the Book of Common Prayer of 1549 Source: Wikipedia Thomas Cranmer was born in Nottinghamshire on July 2, 1489, the son of Thomas Cranmer Senior and his wife, Agnes (Hatfield). He … Continue reading

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John Cotton

John Cotton  -  New England Puritan minister Source: Wikipedia John Cotton was an English clergyman and colonist. He was a principal figure among the New England Puritan ministers, who also included Thomas Hooker, Increase Mather (who became his son-in-law), John … Continue reading

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Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke  -  British Methodist theologian and Biblical scholar

Adam Clarke

Source: Wikipedia

Clarke  is chiefly remembered for writing a commentary on the Bible which took him forty years to complete and which was a primary Methodist theological resource for two centuries.

As a theologian, Clarke reinforced the teachings of Methodist founder John Wesley. He taught that the Bible provides a complete interpretation of God’s nature and will. He considered Scripture itself a miracle of God’s grace that “takes away the veil of darkness and ignorance.” With such an understanding, Clarke was first and foremost a Biblical theologian, often uneasy with purely systematic approaches to theology.

Clarke followed Wesley in opposing a Calvinistic scheme of salvation, preferring instead the Wesleyan-Arminian positions regarding predestination, prevenient grace, the offer of justification from God to all persons, entire sanctification, and assurance of salvation. Perhaps his most controversial position regarded the eternal Sonship of Jesus. Clarke did not believe it Biblically faithful to affirm this doctrine, maintaining that prior to the Incarnation, Jesus was “unoriginated.” Otherwise, according to Clarke, he would be subordinate to God and therefore not fully divine. This was important to Clarke because he felt that Jesus’ divinity was crucial to understanding the atonement.

Clarke’s view was opposed by many Methodists, notably Richard Watson. Watson and his allies argued that Clarke’s position jeopardized the integrity of the doctrine of the trinity. Clarke’s view was rejected by Methodism in favor of the traditional, orthodox perspective.

 

 

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Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England The churches of the Anglican Communion have their historical roots in the English Reformation, when King Henry VIII (r. 1509-1547) wished to obtain a divorce that the pope would not grant. Through the Act of Supremacy of 1534, the king made himself the “supreme head” of the Church of England in place of the Pope.

After this dramatic move, King Henry dissolved England’s monasteries, destroyed Catholic shrines, and ordered the Great Bible (in English) to be placed in all churches. However, Henry allowed few doctrinal changes and very little changed in the religious life of the common English worshiper. Under Henry VIII, and the Church of England remained almost fully Catholic with the exception of loyalty to Rome.

A power struggle between English Protestants and Catholics ensued during the reigns of Edward VI and Mary I. Under King Edward, Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer contributed a great deal to the Protestant movement, including the first two versions of the Book of Common Prayer (1549 and 1552) and the 42 Articles (1553). After the ascension of the Catholic “Bloody Mary” to the throne in 1553, England was restored to Catholicism, much of the reforming work under Kings Henry and Edward was undone, and Thomas Cranmer was burned at the stake.

Protestantism finally emerged victorious under Queen Elizabeth I (r. 1558-1603). It was under Elizabeth that “Anglicanism” took shape, established on the notion of a via media between Catholicism and Protestantism (specifically Reformed Protestantism). Elizabeth appointed Protestant bishops, but reintroduced a crucifix in her chapel, tried to insist on traditional clerical vestments, and made other attempts to satisfy conservative opinion. The 42 Articles were reduced to 39 and the Book of Common Prayer was reissued. The 39 Articles and the Book of Common Prayer, which together expressed the faith and practice of the Church of England, were sufficiently vague to allow for a variety of interpretations along the Catholic-Protestant spectrum.

After Elizabeth, Calvinist influences were dominant for a time, but High Churchmen regained control of the Church of England in the Restoration of 1660. In the latter 17th and early 18th centuries, Anglicanism was characterized by its emphases on reason, simple devotional religion and moral living. After about 1690, the controversy quieted down and the Church of England settled into the form that still characterizes it today.

 

 

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Stephen Charnock

Stephen Charnock  -   Puritan divine

Stephen Charnock

Source: Wikipedia

Son of a London solicitor, he was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and in 1649 became a minister in Southwark. In 1650 he became a fellow of New College, Oxford and in 1652 received his M.A. 1655 he was appointed chaplain to Henry Cromwell, governor of Ireland, and won a reputation for preaching in Dublin.  He returned to London in retirement, but from 1675 he ministered in Bishopgate Street Prebyterian Church, London as joint pastor with Thomas Watson. His sermons were published mostly after his death; they reflect the characteristic Puritan divine’s concern for central Gospel themes. His most important work was entitled Existence and Attributes of God.

 

 

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John Calvin

John Calvin  -   French reformer and theologian

John Calvin

Source: Wikipedia

Born July 10, 1509 in Noyon, France, Jean Calvin was raised in a staunch Roman Catholic family. The local bishop employed Calvin’s father as an administrator in the town’s cathedral. The father, in turn, wanted John to become a priest. Because of close ties with the bishop and his noble family, John’s playmates and classmates in Noyon (and later in Paris) were aristocratic and culturally influential in his early life.

At the age of 14 Calvin went to Paris to study at the College de Marche in preparation for university study. His studies consisted of seven subjects: grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. Toward the end of 1523 Calvin transferred to the more famous College Montaigu. While in Paris he changed his name to its Latin form, Ioannis Calvinus, which in French became Jean Calvin. During this time, Calvin’s education was paid for in part by income from a couple of small parishes. So although the new theological teachings of individuals like Luther and Jacques Lefevre d’Etaples were spreading throughout Paris, Calvin was closely tied to the Roman Church. However, by 1527 Calvin had developed friendships with individuals who were reform-minded. These contacts set the stage for Calvin’s eventual switch to the Reformed faith. Also, at this time Calvin’s father advised him to study law rather than theology.

By 1528 Calvin moved to Orleans to study civil law. The following years found Calvin studying in various places and under various scholars, as he received a humanist education. By 1532 Calvin finished his law studies and also published his first book, a commentary on De Clementia by the Roman philosopher, Seneca. The following year Calvin fled Paris because of contacts with individuals who through lectures and writings opposed the Roman Catholic Church. It is thought that in 1533 Calvin experienced the sudden and unexpected conversion that he writes about in his foreword to his commentary on the Psalms.

For the next three years, Calvin lived in various places outside of France under various names. He studied on his own, preached, and began work on his first edition of the Institutes of the Christian Religion, an instant best seller. By 1536 Calvin had disengaged himself from the Roman Catholic Church and made plans to permanently leave France and go to Strasbourg. However, war had broken out between Francis I and Charles V, so Calvin decided to make a one-night detour to Geneva.

But Calvin’s fame in Geneva preceded him. Farel, a local reformer, invited him to stay in Geneva and threatened him with God’s anger if he did not. Thus began a long, difficult, yet ultimately fruitful relationship with that city. He began as a lecturer and preacher, but by 1538 was asked to leave because of theological conflicts. He went to Strasbourg until 1541. His stay there as a pastor to French refugees was so peaceful and happy that when in 1541 the Council of Geneva requested that he return to Geneva, he was emotionally torn. He wanted to stay in Strasbourg but felt a responsibility to return to Geneva. He did so and remained in Geneva until his death May 27, 1564. Those years were filled with lecturing, preaching, and the writing of commentaries, treatises, and various editions of the Institutes of the Christian Religion

 

 

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John Bunyan

John Bunyan  -  Puritan author

John Bunyan

Source: Wikepedia

John Bunyan had very little schooling. He followed his father in the tinker’s trade, and he served in the parliamentary army from1644 to 1647. Bunyan married in 1649 and lived in Elstow until 1655, when his wife died. He then moved to Bedford, and married again in 1659. John Bunyan was received into the Baptist church in Bedford by immersion in 1653.

In 1655, Bunyan became a deacon and began preaching, with marked success from the start. In 1658 he was indicted for preaching without a license. The authorities were fairly tolerant of him for a while, and he did not suffer imprisonment until November of 1660, when he was taken to the county jail in Silver Street, Bedford, and there confined (with the exception of a few weeks in 1666) for 12 years until January 1672. Bunyan afterward became pastor of the Bedford church. In March of 1675 he was again imprisoned for preaching publicly without a license, this time being held in the Bedford town jail. In just six months this time he was freed, (no doubt the authorities were growing weary of providing Bunyan with free shelter and food) and he was not bothered again by the authorities.

 

John Bunyan wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress in two parts, of which the first appeared at London in 1678,which he had begun during his imprisonment in 1676. The second part appeared in 1684. The earliest edition in which the two parts were combined in one volume came out in 1728. A third part falsely attributed to Bunyan appeared in 1693. The Pilgrim’s Progressis the most successful allegory ever written, and like the Bible has been extensively translated into other languages.

John Bunyan wrote many other books, including one which discussed his inner life and reveals his preparation for his appointed work is Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666). Bunyan became a popular preacher as well as a very voluminous author, though most of his works consist of expanded sermons. In theology he was a Puritan, but not a partisan. He was no scholar, except of the English Bible, but that he knew thoroughly. He also drew much influence from Martin Luther’s  Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians.

Some time before his final release from prison Bunyan became involved in a controversy with two theologians of his day: Kiffin and Paul. In 1673 he published his Differences in Judgement about Water-Baptism no Bar to Communion, in which he took the ground that “the Church of Christ hath not warrant to keep out of the communion the Christian that is discovered to be a visible saint of the word, the Christian that walketh according to his own light with God.” While he agreed as a Baptist that water baptism was God’s ordinance, he refused to make “an idol of it,” and he disagreed with those who would dis-fellowship from Christians who did not adhere to water baptism

Kiffin and Paul published a rejoinder in Serious Reflections (London, 1673), in which they set forth the argument in favor of the restriction of the Lord’s Supper to baptized believers. The controversy resulted in the Particular (Calvinistic) Baptists leaving the question of communion with the unbaptized open. Bunyan’s church permitted pedobaptists (those who baptize children, such as the Calvinistic Presbyterian Church) to fellowship and eventually, Bunyan’s church even became a pedobaptist church.

On a trip to London, John Bunyan caught a severe cold, and he died at the house of a friend at Snow Hill on August 31, 1688. His grave lies in the cemetery at Bunhill Fields in London.

 

 

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John Bradford

John Bradford  -  English Reformer and martyr

John Bradford

Source: Wikipedia

It is not uncommon to hear someone repeat a well-known saying upon seeing someone in worse condition than himself. “There, but for the grace of God go I.” Few realize these words first came from the mouth of an English martyr when he saw a criminal going to execution for his foul deeds.

John Bradford was born in 1510 and received a good education in a grammar school in Manchester. He was able to earn a good living serving under John Harrington, paymaster to the English forces during the wars of Henry the 8th. For a time he studied law but through the influence of a fellow student he was converted to Protestant Christian faith. Because of this he left the study of law and began his study of theology at Cambridge.

Though he would only live seven more years he was often referred to as “holy Bradford” not in derision, but from respect to his unselfish service to God and those around him. In 1550, during the reign of Edward the 6th, he was ordained by Bishop Ridley to be a “roving chaplain”. Following Edward’s early death, England was ruled by Mary Tudor who was zealous to bring back the Roman Catholic religion and to discipline “heretics.”

Before Mary’s reign was a month old John was arrested on a trivial charge and confined to the Tower of London, never to be a free man again. His time in prison was not wasted as he continued to preach to all that would listen and to write letters and treatises that would encourage fellow believers. During his two-year imprisonment he was cast for a time into a single cell with three fellow reformers, Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer. Their time together was spent encouraging one another and in careful study of the New Testament. All three were to become martyrs.

Finally on January 31st, 1555 Bradford was brought to the notorious Newgate Prison to be burned at the stake as a heretic. Though the burning was scheduled for 4 AM, there was a great crowd, made up of many who admired Bradford, who had come to witness the execution. He was chained to the stake with another young martyr, John Leaf. After begging forgiveness of any he might have wronged and freely forgiving those who had wronged him, he turned to fellow-martyr, John Leaf, with these words, “Be of good comfort brother; for we shall have a merry supper with the Lord this night!”

A writer of his period recorded that he endured the flame “as a fresh gale of wind in a hot summer’s day, confirming by his death the truth of that doctrine he had so diligently and powerfully preached during his life.”

 

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E.M Bounds

Edward M. Bounds

Source: Wikipedia

 

Edward McKendree Bounds was trained and apprenticed as an attorney, but instead of pursuing a legal career, he entered the ministry in his early twenties. In 1859 he was ordained as pastor of the the Monticello Methodist Church in Missouri.

Bounds was a chaplain in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He was captured by the Union Army in Franklin, Tennessee and later released. After his release, he strove to build up the spiritual state of Franklin by starting weekly prayer sessions.

Bounds was an associate editor of the official Methodist newspaper, The Christian Advocate, and is best known for his numerous books on the subject of prayer.

“Edward McKendree Bounds did not merely pray well that he might write well about prayer. He prayed because the needs of the world were upon him. He prayed, for long years, upon subjects which the easy-going Christian rarely gives a thought, and for objects which men of less thought and faith are always ready to call impossible. From his solitary prayer-vigils, year by year, there arose teaching equaled by few men in modern Christian history. He wrote transcendently about prayer, because he was himself, transcendent in its practice.

“As breathing is a physical reality to us so prayer was a reality for Bounds. He took the command, ‘Pray without ceasing’ almost as literally as animate nature takes the law of the reflex nervous system, which controls our breathing.” -Claude Chilton, Jr., in the Foreword to Necessity of Prayer .

 

 

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Thomas Boston

Thomas Boston  -  Scottish  church leader

Thomas Boston

Source: Wikipedia

Boston was born at Duns. His father, John Boston, and his mother, Alison Trotter, were both Covenanters. He was educated at Edinburgh, and licensed in 1697 by the presbytery of Chirnside. In 1699 he became minister of the small parish of Simprin, where there were only 90 examinable persons.

In 1704 he found, while visiting a member of his flock, a book brought into Scotland by a commonwealth soldier. This was the famous Marrow of Modern Divinity, by Edward Fisher, a compendium of the opinions of leading Reformation divines on the doctrine of grace and the offer of the Gospel, which set off the Marrow Controversy. Its object was to demonstrate the unconditional freeness of the Gospel. It cleared away such conditions as repentance, or some degree of outward or inward reformation, and argued that where Christ is heartily received, full repentance and a new life follow. On Boston’s recommendation, James Hog of Carnock reprinted The Marrow in 1718; and Boston also published an edition with notes of his own. The book, being attacked from the standpoint of high Calvinism, became the standard of a far-reaching movement in Scottish Presbyterians.

The Marrow men were marked by the zeal of their service and the effect of their preaching. As they remained Calvinists they could not preach a universal atonement; rather they were particular redemptionists. In 1707 Boston was transferred to Ettrick, Scotland. He distinguished himself by being the only member of the assembly who entered a protest against what he deemed the inadequate sentence passed on John Simson, professor of divinity at Glasgow, who was accused of heterodox teaching on the Incarnation.

Boston, if unduly introspective, was a man of singular piety and amiability. His autobiography is an interesting record of Scottish life, full of sincerity and tenderness, and not devoid of humorous touches, intentional and otherwise.

His books, The Fourfold State, The Crook in the Lot, and his Body of Divinityand Miscellanies, had a powerful influence over the Scottish peasantry. His Memoirswere published in 1776. An edition of his works in 12 volumes appeared in 1849.

 

 

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Horatius Bonar

Horatius Bonar  -  Scottish churchman and poet

Horatius Bonar

Source: Wikipedia

Horatius Bonar had a passionate heart for revival and was a friend and supporter of several revivalists, He was brother to the more well-known Andrew Bonar, and with him defended D. L. Moody’s evangelistic ministry in Scotland. He authored a couple of excellent revival works, one including over a hundred biographical sketches and the other an addendum to Rev. John Gillies’ Historical Collections bringing it up to date.

He was a powerful soul-winner and is well qualified to pen his brief, but illuminating study of the character of true revivalists.

Horatius was in fact one of eleven children, and of these an older brother, John James, and a younger, Andrew, also became ministers and were all closely involved, together with Thomas Chalmers, William C. Burns and Robert Murray M’Cheyne, in the important spiritual movements which affected many places in Scotland in the 1830s and 1840s.

In the controversy known as the “Great Disruption,” Horatius stood firmly with the evangelical ministers and elders who left the Church of Scotland’s General Assembly in May 1843 and formed the new Free Church of Scotland. By this time he had started to write hymns, some of which appeared in a collection he published in 1845, but typically, his compositions were not named. His gifts for expressing theological truths in fluent verse form are evident in all his best-known hymns, but in addition he was also blessed with a deep understanding of doctrinal principles.

Examples of the hymns he composed on the fundamental doctrines include, “Glory be to God the Father”…..on the Trinity. “0 Love of God, how strong and true”…..on Redemption. “Light of the world,” – “Rejoice and be glad” – “Done is the work” on the Person and Work of Christ. “Come Lord and tarry not,” on His Second Coming, while the hymn “Blessed be God, our God!” conveys a sweeping survey of Justification and Sanctification.

In all this activity, his pastoral work and preaching were never neglected and after almost twenty years laboring in the Scottish Borders at Kelso, Bonar moved back to Edinburgh in 1866 to be minister at the Chalmers Memorial Chapel (now renamed St. Catherine’s Argyle Church). He continued his ministry for a further twenty years helping to arrange D.L. Moody’s meetings in Edinburgh in 1873 and being appointed moderator of the Free Church ten years later. His health declined by 1887, but he was approaching the age of eighty when he preached in his church for the last time, and he died on 31 May 1889.

 

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Loraine Boettner

Loraine Boettner   -  American theologian and author

Loraine Boettner

Source: tracts.ukgo.com

Loraine was born March 7th 1901 in Linden Missouri.  He lived with his family; his father being a Christian school superintendent and his mother a housewife.  Loraine attended his father’s church until he was 18.  Then he joined his mother’s church–the Centennial Methodist Church; his mother was of a different denominational background than his father.

In 1917 Lorraine decided to begin his college career.  He took up studies in Agriculture at the University of Missouri. He later finished his degree after transferring a year later to Tarkio Presbyterian College.  He graduated there cum laude with a B.S. degree. At Tarkio he was greatly influenced by professor J.B. Work, who was a staunch Calvinist. Although Work was of the Reformed position and influenced Loraine greatly, Loraine did not hold to the Reformed Doctrine of Predestination; this did not sit well with him. How ironic it is that later he wrote his Master’s thesis on this subject.

In 1925 he furthered his education while attending Princeton. In 1928 he received his Th.B, and in 1929 his Th.M. While attending Princeton he found the flavor of Calvinistic doctrine to be sweet. While on summer break in his second year he devoured Hodge’s Systematic Theology volumes two and three. After being so influenced by Hodge’s teaching, the urge to write his Master’s thesis on predestination became apparent. While attending Princeton he studied under Hodge’s grandson, Casper W. Hodge.  His influence strengthened Loraine in the Reformed doctrines.  Loraine also met occasionally with another mentor/friend named Samuel G. Craig, editor of The Presbyterian.  Craig and Boettner would meet for dinner to discuss the latest happenings at the college between the liberals and the Reformed influence of Machen.

After graduating from Princeton, Loraine began teaching at Pikesville Presbyterian College in Eastern Kentucky until 1937.  While at this school he met his wife to be, Lillian Henry.  They married in 1932.  He also published Reformed Doctrine of Predestination in 1932; this was an exceptional year for him.

From 1935 to 1939 Loraine worked with Dr. Allis on a magazine called Christianity Today.  This was not in any relation to the magazine of today.   In 1937 he began working at the Library of Congress and the Bureau of Internal Revenue; he had left the teaching position at Pikesville.  Though working in an environment which was not related to Biblical studies or Theology, he still continued to write producing many books at this stage of his life.  Here he revised the Reformed Doctrine of Predestination from his original thesis word count being 8,000 words, to the revised count of 30,000 words.

While in New York City, he attended New York Avenue Presbyterian Church where Peter Marshall was Pastor.    In 1948 he moved to Los Angeles because of his wife’s failing health.  His wife’s two sisters came to aid in caring for her until she died in 1958.  In that same year he returned to Rockport.    In 1962, Loraine’s book, recently written book, called  Roman Catholicism surpassed his previous work The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination as best seller.  This was a startling occurrence since he is best known for his work on the Reformed doctrines.  The reason it surpassed his magnum opus was because it was more readable to the people and more a personal issue.

In 1989 Loraine contracted diabetes, leukemia, and cancer.  His struggle was drawn out and by the end he had four blood transfusions which decreased his viability each time.  At 8pm January 3, 1990 at Fairfax hospital Montana he died.

Certainly this Reformed theologian is studied because of his work The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination.  His agility in rewriting the doctrines commonly held in a Reformed setting placed him among the current authorities on the subject. It is important to note that he did not introduce any new doctrine, but renewed the old. In this book he explained the traditional five points of Calvinism: total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace and perseverance of the saints.  He molds into this the theological aspects of the plan and decrees of God; and also the relevant attributes of God.  He very convincingly answers criticisms of Calvinism.  He also adds a chapter on the history of Calvinism in order to explain the importance of what a theology does after one has embraced its doctrines.    Loraine has also written other books such as Immortality” which explain the Christian concepts of death and dying in three specific areas: Physical death, Immortality and the intermediate state.  Also, he has written: Studies in Theology, a compilation of articles and books written from 1939 onward.  It is compiled in five sections 1) Inspiration of Scripture, 2) Christian Supernaturalism, 3) The Trinity, 4) The Person of Christ and 5) The Atonement.  These are among his more popular and important works.

 

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Louis Berkhof

Louis Berkhof  -  Reformed theologian

Louis Berkhof

Source: calvin.edu

Louis Berkhof  was a Reformed systematic theologian whose written works have been influential in seminaries and Bible colleges in the United States and Canada and with individual Christians in general throughout the 20th century.

He was born in 1873 in Emmen, Drenthe in the Netherlands and moved with his family to Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1882, when still a child. In 1900 he graduated from Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan after which he was called to be pastor of the First Christian Reformed Church in Allendale, Michigan. Two years later he attended Princeton Theological Seminary where he earned his B.D. in two years. Then he returned to West Michigan to pastor Oakdale Park Church located in Grand Rapids. In 1906 he joined the faculty of Calvin Theological Seminary and taught there for almost four decades. For the first 20 years he taught Biblical Studies until in 1926 he moved into the systematic theology department. He became president of the seminary in 1931 and continued in that office until he retired in 1944.

Berkhof authored twenty two books during his career. His main works are his Systematic Theology (1932, revised 1938) which was supplemented with an Introductory Volume to Systematic Theology (1932, which is included in the 1996 Eerdman’s edition of Systematic Theology) and a separate volume entitled History of Christian Doctrines (1937). He wrote a more concise version of his Systematic Theology for high school and college students entitled Manual of Christian Doctrine, and later wrote the even more concise Summary of Christian Doctrine. He also delivered Princeton Theological Seminary’s Stone Lectures in 1951. These were published as The Kingdom of God. Berkhof was not known for being original or speculative but for being very good at organizing and explaining basic theological ideas following in the tradition of John Calvin, Abraham Kuyper, and Herman Bavinck. Theologian Wayne Grudem has called Berkhof’s Systematic Theology “a great treasure-house of information and analysis…probably the most useful one-volume systematic theology available from any theological perspective.” Berkhof’s writings continue to serve as systematic presentations of Reformed theology. They are organized for use in seminaries and religious education as well as individual reference, though his systematics works are demanding reads.

 

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Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes  -  American theologian

Albert Barnes

Source: Wikipedia

Albert Barnes was born at Rome, New York, on December 1, 1798. He graduated from Hamilton College, Clinton, New York, in 1820, and from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1823. Barnes was ordained as a Presbyterian minister by the presbytery of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, in 1825, and was the pastor successively of the Presbyterian Church in Morristown, New Jersey (1825-1830), and of the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia (1830-1867).

He held a prominent place in the New School branch of the Presbyterians, to which he adhered on the division of the denomination in 1837; he had been tried (but not convicted) for heresy in 1836, the charge being particularly against the views expressed by him in Notes on Romans (1835) of the imputation of the sin of Adam, original sin and the atonement; the bitterness stirred up by this trial contributed towards widening the breach between the conservative and the progressive elements in the church. He was an eloquent preacher, but his reputation rests chiefly on his expository works, which are said to have had a larger circulation both in Europe and America than any others of their class.

Of the well-known New Testament Notes, it is said that more than a million volumes had been issued by 1870. The Notes on Job, the Psalms, Isaiah and Daniel found scarcely less acceptance. Displaying no original critical power, their chief merit lies in the fact that they bring in a popular (but not always accurate) form the results of the criticism of others within the reach of general readers. Barnes was the author of several other works of a practical and devotional kind, including Scriptural Views of Slavery (1846) and The Way of Salvation (1863). A collection of his Theological Works was published in Philadelphia in 1875.

In his famous 1852 oratory, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”, Frederick Douglass quoted Barnes as saying: “There is no power out of the church that could sustain slavery an hour, if it were not sustained in it.”

Barnes died in Philadelphia on December 24, 1870.

 

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Jacobus Arminius

Jacobus Arminius  -  Dutch Reformed theologian

Jacobus Arminius

Source: Wikipedia

Jacobus Arminius (aka Jacob Arminius, James Arminius, and his Dutch name Jacob Harmenszoon) was a Dutch theologian, best known as the founder of the anti-Calvinistic school in Reformed Protestant theology,  thereby lending his name to a movement which resisted some of the tenets of Calvinism – Arminianism. The early Dutch followers of Arminius’ teaching were also called the Remonstrants, after they issued a document containing five points of disagreement with classic Calvinism, entitled Remonstrantice (1610).

Arminius  became a professor of theology at Leiden in 1603, and remained there for the rest of his life. The theology of Arminianism was not fully developed during Arminius’ time, but was systematized after his death and formalized in the Five articles of the Remonstrants in 1610. The works of Arminius (in Latin) were published at Leiden in 1629, and at Frankfort in 1631 and 1635. After his death the Synod of Dordrecht (1618-1619) judged his theology and its adherents anathemas and published the five points of Calvinism (later knows as TULIP) as a  point-by-point response to the five points of the Arminian Remonstrants.

 

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Lancelot Andrewes

Lancelot Andrewes

Source: Wikipedia

 

Lancelot Andrewes was born at Allhallows, Barking, in 1555. He was an excellent scholar at Merchant Tailor’s School,  and gained a fellowship at Pembroke College, Cambridge. When Jesus College, Oxford, was founded, young Andrewes was invited to be one of its foundation fellows, and in 1580 he took holy orders. He was a great favorite with Queen Elizabeth,  who appointed him one of her chaplains and Dean of Westminster.

At the accession of James I, Andrewes rose higher still in Court favor, and was made Bishop of Chichester in 1605, and had promotions showered upon him. Andrewes became successively Bishop of Ely and of Winchester. He headed the list of authorised translators of the Bible in 1611. Fuller tells us that James I had so great an awe and veneration of Andrewes that, in the bishop’s presence, he refrained from that uncouth and unsavoury jesting in which he was accustomed to indulge at other times.

This admirable prelate, “an infinite treasure, an amazing oracle,” died at Winchester House, Southwark, on September 25, 1626. His English Sermons, at the particular desire of Charles I, were collected by Laud and Buckeridge, and ninety-six of them were published in 1628. In his lifetime there had only appeared a little volume of sermons on the Lord’s Prayer, entitled Scala Cæli, in 1611.

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Augustine

Augustine  -  Bishop of Hippo and “Doctor of the Church”

St. Augustine

Source: Wikipedia

Accepted by most scholars to be the most important figure in the ancient Western church, St. Augustine was born in Tagaste, Numidia in North Africa. His mother was a Christian, but his father remained a pagan until late in life. After a rather unremarkable childhood, marred only by a case of stealing pears, Augustine drifted through several philosophical systems before converting to Christianity at the age of thirty-one. At the age of nineteen, Augustine read Cicero’s Hortensius, an experience that led him into the fascination with philosophical questions and methods that would remain with him throughout his life. After a few years as a Manichean, he became attracted to the more skeptical positions of the Academic philosophers. Although tempted in the direction of Christianity upon his arrival at Milan in 383, he turned first to neoplatonism, During this time, Augustine fathered a child by a mistress. This period of exploration, including its youthful excesses (perhaps somewhat exaggerated) are recorded in Augustine’s most widely read work, the Confessions.

During his youth, Augustine had studied rhetoric at Carthage, a discipline that he used to gain employment teaching in Carthage and then in Rome and Milan, where he met Ambrose who is credited with effecting Augustine’s conversion and who baptized Augustine in 387. Returning to his homeland soon after his conversion, he was ordained a presbyter in 391, taking the position as bishop of Hippo in 396, a position which he held until his death.

Besides the Confessions, Augustine’s most celebrated work is his De Civitate Dei (On the City of God), a study of the relationship between Christianity and secular society, which was inspired by the fall of Rome to the Visigoths in 410. Among his other works, many are polemical attacks on various heresies: Against Faustus, the Manichean; On Baptism; Against the Donatists; and many attacks on Pelagianism and Semi-Pelagianism. Other works include treatises On the Trinity;On Faith, Hope, and Love; On Christian Doctrine; and some early dialogues.

St. Augustine stands as a powerful advocate for orthodoxy and of the episcopacy as the sole means for the dispensing of saving grace. In the light of later scholarship, Augustine can be seen to serve as a bridge between the ancient and medieval worlds. A review of his life and work, however, shows him as an active mind engaging the practical concerns of the churches he served.

 

 

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Richard Baxter

Puritan Richard Baxter

Richard Baxter – English Puritan church leader, poet, hymn-writer, theologian, and controversialist Source: Wikipedia Richard Baxter(1615-1691) was a prominent English churchman of the 1600s. He was a peacemaker who sought unity among Protestants, and yet he was a highly independent thinker and at the center of every major controversy in England during his lifetime. Born in Rowton to parents who undervalued education, Baxter was largely self-taught. He eventually studied at a free school, then at royal court, where he became disgusted at what he saw as frivolity. He left to study divinity, and at age 23, he was ordained into the Church of England. Within the Anglican church, Baxter found common ground with the Puritans, a growing faction who opposed the church’s episcopacy and was itself breaking into factions. Baxter, for his part, did his best to avoid the disputes between Anglicans, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and other denominations, even convincing local ministers to cooperate in some pastoral matters. “In necessary things, unity; in doubtful things, liberty; in all things, charity,” he was fond of saying. The interest in cooperation was not due to a lack of conviction. On the contrary, Baxter was opinionated in his theology, which was not quite Separatist and not quite Conformist. Among his more than 200 works are long, controversial discourses on doctrine. Still, he believed society was a large family under a loving father, and in his theology, he tried to cut between the extremes. He eventually registered himself as “a mere Nonconformist” (“Nonconformist” was a technical term meaning “not Anglican”), breaking with the Church of England mainly because of the lack of power it gave parish clergy. Baxter also found himself as a peacemaker during the English Civil Wars. He believed in monarchy, but a limited one. He served as a chaplain for the parliamentary army, but then helped to bring about the restoration of the king. Yet as a moderate, Baxter found himself the target of both extremes. He was still irritated with the episcopacy in 1660, when he was offered the bishopric of Hereford, so he declined it. As a result, he was barred from ecclesiastical office and not permitted to return to Kidderminster, nor was he allowed to preach. Between 1662 and 1688 (when James II was overthrown), he was persecuted and was imprisoned for 18 months, and he was forced to sell two extensive libraries. Still, he continued to preach: “I preached as never sure to preach again,” he wrote, “and as a dying man to dying men.” Baxter became even better known for his prolific writing. His devotional classic The Saints’ Everlasting Rest was one of the most widely read books of the century. When asked what deviations should be permitted from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, he created an entirely new one, called Reformed Liturgy, in two weeks. His Christian Directory contains over one million words. His autobiography and his pastoral guide, The Reformed Pastor, are still widely read today.

 

 

 

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