Quotes from John D. Woodbridge

The lifestyle of Christians matched their teachings, so that many early Christians were not afraid to say, 'Imitate us as we imitate Christ.' Unfortunately, in contemporary evangelicalism sometimes people say, 'Don't look at us, look at Christ,' because we are worried what people will find if our own lives are scrutinized.

There have been people who have done things in the name of Christ they never should have done...not everything done in the name of Christ should, in point of fact, be attributed to Christianity. It's important to remember that it's not Jesus' teaching that are at fault here; it's the actions of those who, for whatever reason, greatly strayed from what he clearly taught...

I see Christianity's influence as a resplendent mural with many scenes, each depicted in bright, brilliant, and beautiful colors. Without Christianity, there would be an awful lot of grays and only a few scattered and disconnected lines here and there giving any sense of meaning. But Christianity adds so much meaning, hope , and beauty and richness to the picture.

Whatever differences in polity, all Puritans shared the same fundamental theological commitment to Reformed theology (Calvinism).

John Newton, the repentant former slaver, preached the gospel in his parish of Olney; created the Eclectic Society, whose members asked questions like "What is the best way of propagating the Gospel in the East Indies?"; and penned the famous lyrics of "Amazing Grace": "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.

During the reign of James I some Puritans grew discouraged at the pace of reform and separated entirely from the Church of England. After a short sojourn in the Netherlands, one group of "separating Puritans," better known historically as the "Pilgrims," eventually established the Plymouth Colony in 1620 in what is now southeastern Massachusetts.

that every time the Lord's Supper is celebrated, Christ is actually resacrificed. For Luther, this was the most abominable bondage of all. The mass was a gift of God to man, not a gift of man to God. "They [the Roman Church] make God no longer the bestower of good gifts to us, but the receiver of ours. Such impiety!" So that everyone could better understand this gift of God, Luther stressed that the mass should be in the vernacular.

On July 12, 1588, the Spanish Armada set sail for the Netherlands. The English were outnumbered and outgunned. However, fortune smiled on the English when they caught the Armada anchored in close formation near Calais. At midnight on July 28, the English sent fireships loaded with pitch, brimstone, and gunpowder directly into the heart of the Armada.

Thomas Grantham (1634–92) stood out as a major theological writer for the General Baptists later in the seventeenth century. The General Baptists believed that Christ died for the sins of all ("general atonement"), not that all would believe.

The origins of the Particular Baptists (Calvinists) date from the 1630s. In 1644 Particular Baptists of seven churches drafted the First London Confession (1644

university," Joseph Scaliger (1540–1609). His expertise in the classics and biblical textual criticism made him one of the premier scholars of Europe. Other scholars included Jacob Arminius (1550–1609), Francis Gomarus (1563–1641), Simon Episcopius (1583–1643), and Johannes Coccejus (1603

attempted to refute the charges of Dirck Coornhert (1522–90) against the Calvinist doctrine of predestination. After studying Romans 7 and 9, Hermanszoon modified his beliefs and affirmed that God predestined all who believe in Christ. As a professor of divinity at the University of Leiden (after 1603), Arminius engaged in a harsh dispute with fellow professor Francis Gomarus, a committed supralapsarian Calvinist and admirer of Calvin and Beza.

She is only a woman, the mistress of half an island, and yet she makes herself feared by Spain, by France, by the Empire, by all!" (Pope Sixtus V referring to Elizabeth I).

he attributed his incredible stamina and strength to (1) the power of God, (2) traveling 4,000 to 5,000 miles yearly, (3) the ability to sleep whenever and wherever he wanted, (4) getting up at a set hour between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m., and (5) constant preaching, particularly in the morning.

Such was unfortunately not the case. Neither Benedict XIII nor Gregory XII acquiesced before the negative judgments of the Council of Pisa on their respective claims to be pope. Ironically enough, the council's actions in electing a new pope had only expanded the scope of the schism. Now there were three popes in Christendom. Moreover, each had loyal followers in certain corners of Europe.

John himself said, "… from a child I was taught to love and reverence the Scripture, the oracles of God.

A brilliant student, John Wesley pursued his education at Oxford University from 1720 until 1724. He was adept in a number of languages and appreciated classical culture. He became very interested in the writings of the church fathers (especially St. Chrysostom, Gregory of Nyssa, and later Macarius). He meditated on Bishop Taylor's Rules and Exercises of Holy Living and Holy Living and Rules and Exercises of Holy Dying

On November 5, 1414, the Council of Constance opened its proceedings. The participants faced a daunting agenda: (1) to find a way to heal the schism; (2) to douse the flames of the Bohemian revolt led by John Hus; (3) to establish a means to reform the church of abuses.

John defined a society as "a company of men having the form and seeking the power of godliness, united in order to pray together, to receive the word of exhortation, and to watch over one another in love, that they may help each other work out their salvation.

Unlike Charles, John was firmly convinced that lay preachers could minister even if they had little if any theological training. He gave his preachers a solemn charge: "It is not your business to preach so many times and to take care of this or that society; but to save as many souls as you can; to bring as many sinners as you possibly can to repentance, and with all your power to build them up in that holiness without which they cannot see the Lord.

the tsars of the Romanov family dynasty began a lengthy rule of Muscovy-Russia from 1613 until 1917.