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All articles in category Historical

By Stuart Fisher

Historical

November 2018
Articles > Historical

Robert Roberts Clynnog — the hunchback preacher (1762-1802)

Once on a preaching tour of Anglesey, Robert Roberts was in the town of Amlwch. His preaching was in full flow, gripping the congregation. The presence of God was very real. A pale-faced youth turned to his friend in awe and whispered, ‘Is he a man or an angel?’ His friend replied, ‘An angel, of course. Did you not know?’ ‘No I never knew’, said the other, ‘Dear me, how much better than a man an angel can preach!’ Prisoner of hope Robert Roberts was born in Llanllyfni on 12 September 1762 and was one of 13 children. He was an able child, learning to...

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By Jonathan Bayes

Historical

November 2018
Articles > Historical

The Synod of Dort

The date is Monday 6 May 1619. The place is the ‘Great Church’ in the influential city of Dordrecht (or Dort) in the central Netherlands. Since November 1618 (300 years ago, this month) the Great Synod of Dort has been meeting daily; a total of 154 sessions have been held. It is thought that just over 100 delegates have attended: we know the names of 96 of them. They have been representing the Reformed Churches of most of the states of Europe. The most notable absentees have been the French. At the last minute their king, Louis XIII, withdrew permission for them to attend. Now...

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By Ian Dobbie

Historical

November 2018
Articles > Historical

The World War One Armistice — a Christian officer’s experience

Over the last three months, the Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Scripture Readers Association (SASRA) has helped Evangelical Times look back on the closing months of World War One with the work of ‘front line’ mission in mind. In this final article, SASRA now points us to the Armistice — that took effect 100 years ago, on 11 November 1918 — and shares historical fact that surprises and informs in equal measure. In January 1918, Lieutenant Colonel William Dobbie was appointed to British General Headquarters as ‘GSO1 Movements’. From here he was able to see the progress of the war. Critically, he will have known that a...

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Historical

October 2018
Articles > Historical

SASRA and the World War 1 centenary (3)

In this third article, the Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Scripture Readers Association (SASRA) continues to highlight the work of its forerunners in the last months of World War One. It’s striking to note the deep concern for gospel mission in 1918 within the military and elsewhere. With the Army and RAF in mind, please pray that former service personnel who love Jesus Christ would be called back to the harvest field, ‘behind the wire’. One hundred years ago, the First World War was drawing to a close.  Germany’s allies were agreeing to armistices (Turkey on 30 October and Austria on 4 November), their army had suffered...

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By Ben Wilkerson

Historical

October 2018
Articles > Historical

LETTER FROM AMERICA: Legacy of the Huguenot Church

On October 18 1685, Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes. Consisting of 92 articles aimed at promoting civil and religious liberty, the Edict of Nantes had been issued by Henry IV in 1598 in an attempt to end civil war and grant some liberties to the Huguenots, which the French government and Roman Catholic Church saw as heretical. With the protections revoked, relentless state and church-sponsored persecution harried the French Protestant Church and nearly half a million French citizens left France for the safety of neighboring Protestant nations or further abroad. Although the Huguenot church is not widely heard of today, the legacy and...

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By Ken Brownell

Historical

September 2018
Articles > Historical

The Haldane brothers and the quest for evangelical unity (3)

Link to Article 1 Link to Article 2 Both James and Robert Haldane said that they didn’t intend to divide their own church or movement by their distinctive ecclesiological views (see ET, August 2018). Perhaps because he was a pastor, James was seemingly the more flexible of the two in the application of his convictions. But division is what happened. Both brothers had moved from a paedobaptist to a Baptist position. Somewhat naively, both believed they should be able to state their views plainly and then work through their application in the life of the church. Ecclesiastical tensions Writing to John Campbell, James said: ‘If...

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By SASRA

Historical

September 2018
Articles > Historical

SASRA and the World War 1 centenary (2)

In this second article, the Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Scripture Readers Association (SASRA) continues to highlight the work of its forerunners in the last months of World War One. Reading Ready and The British Flag and Christian Sentinel (the forerunners’ magazines), brings home both the physical suffering and the spiritual fruit known during the war. Please pray that spiritual fruit would also be seen in the British military in 2018. Each month, Ready included ‘Our roll of honour’, listing members of the Soldiers’ Christian Association killed, wounded, etc., and also those honoured.  The final summary included 241 killed in action, 37 missing and 44 prisoners of...

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By Roger Carswell

Historical

August 2018
Articles > Historical

Henry Moorhouse

138 years ago, Henry Moorhouse was buried in the Ardwick Cemetery in Manchester. In normal circumstances this would have been his final resting place, but the cemetery was redeveloped towards the end of the 20th century to make way for a bus station. Moorhouse’s gravestone was eventually located by Rev. David Earnshaw of Inskip Baptist Church. In June he arranged for it to be moved and set in the graveyard surrounding the Inskip church (PR4 OTT)*. The stone, which is well preserved, stands again as a permanent memorial to an important Victorian evangelist. His favourite text is etched on the stone and, all these years...

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By Ken Brownell

Historical

July 2018
Articles > Historical

The Haldane brothers and the quest for evangelical unity (1)

Link to Article 2 Link to Article 3 The remarkable Scottish brothers Robert and James Haldane lived at a time of significant spiritual awakening in Protestant churches in Britain. Born in the 1760s and converted in the 1790s, they ministered at a time when Protestant evangelicalism was expanding rapidly in the wake of the Great Awakening of the mid-eighteenth century. Both were actively involved in many of the evangelical enterprises that emerged in this period and characterised it. By any standard, the brothers are remarkable for what they were able to achieve in the course of their full and active lives. They were born (Robert...

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By Roger Carswell

Historical

July 2018
Articles > Historical

150 years of beach missions

In 1850 Llandudno was laid out as a watering-place for holiday-makers. 18 years later, on 26 August, a small man with thick black whiskers was sauntering along the beach. Heavy bathing machines were either standing or being dragged towards the sea by cart horses, as ladies were taking their dip in flouncing bathing gowns. Gentlemen were requested not to walk on that part of the promenade. The children were from wealthy backgrounds and, for most of them, church attendance and family prayers would have been normal. Josiah Spiers watched the children fetching pebbles and seaweed, when he thought, ‘Why not encourage the children to make...

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By Roger Fay

Historical

July 2018
Articles > Historical

Patrick Hamilton: first Scottish martyr of the Reformation (2)

The trial of Patrick Hamilton for ‘heresy’ took place in St Andrews Cathedral in Scotland on 29 February 1528. For an eye-witness description of the occasion, we are indebted to one Alexander Alane (Alesius) (1500-1565). Alane had previously spoken out against Lutheran teaching and consequently been sent by Archbishop Beaton to convince Hamilton of his errors. But it ended up with Hamilton converting Alane! Alane wrote: ‘I was myself an eye-witness of the tragedy, and heard him answering for his life to the charges of heresy which were laid against him: and he was so far from disowning them, that he defended and established them by...

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By Roger Fay

Historical

June 2018
Articles > Historical

Patrick Hamilton: first Scottish Reformation martyr (1)

St Andrews in Scotland is today famous for its golf course and the magnificent beach that featured in the film Chariots of Fire. Its university is famous as the place where Prince William and Kate Middleton met. In the sixteenth century, St Andrews was the seat of power for the Catholic church in Scotland and boasted the supposed relics of its patron saint, namely an arm, three fingers, a kneecap and a tooth! On the cobblestones near St Salvator’s College the initials ‘PH’ are engraved, and not far away the initials ‘GW’. These stand for Patrick Hamilton and George Wishart, and mark the places of...

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