The gospel of God is to be offered freely to all. Accordingly, all who hear the gospel have a warrant to believe it. As Samuel Rutherford wrote, 'reprobates have as fair a warrant to believe as the elect have.'

This week we consider the offer of the gospel made freely by God, addressed to every sinner—indeed, addressed to you and to me.

Featured resources:

– Iain H. Murray, 'The Free Offer of the Gospel,' Banner of Truth Magazine, Issue 11 (June 1958).

– Robert Murray M'Cheyne, excerpt from his sermon 'The Acceptable Year of the Lord' on Isaiah 61:1–3, found in Andrew Bonar, Memoir and Remains of Robert Murray M'Cheyne (1844, repr. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1966, 2024), pages 583–4.

Banner Resources on the Free Offer of the Gospel:

Andrew Fuller, 'The Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation' in The Works of Andrew Fuller (clothbound, 1012 pages)

Iain H. Murray, Spurgeon vs. Hyper-Calvinism: The Battle for Gospel Preaching (paperback, 168 pages)

John Bunyan, The Jerusalem Sinner Saved (paperback, 144 pages)

John Murray, The Free Offer of the Gospel (booklet, 32 pages)

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This summer the Trust brought out a new, retypeset edition of William Cunningham's Historical Theology (1863). This week we read its new introduction by Banner Trustee Donald John MacLean, to find out why this work is of unique value to the 21st Century reader.

Read Material:

– 'William Cunningham's Historical Theology – An Introduction', Donald John MacLean, in William Cunningham, Historical Theology (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1960 and 2024). First edition 1863.

Buy the work (2 volumes): https://banneroftruth.org/store/theology/historical-theology-3/

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The poor are a priority to God, and must be a priority for us, too. This week we focus on this aspect of the biblical witness with the help of Peter Barnes (Revesby Presbyterian Church, NSW, Australia) and Thomas E. Peck, the nineteenth-century Southern Presbyterian minister and teacher.

Featured resources:

– Peter Barnes, 'Looking After the Poor: Biblical Principles', Banner of Truth Magazine, Issue 502 (July 2005).

– Thomas E. Peck, 'The Gospel Preached to the Poor' in The Writings of Thomas E. Peck (repr. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1999), Vol. 1, pp. 25, 27–8.

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There are many pitfalls in preaching. One area which many preachers struggle with is application. And yet, in a sense, application is the whole of preaching. David Vaughn's letter to a fellow Christian leader in the December 2025 issue of the magazine addresses this very subject.

Featured resources:

– David Vaughn, 'What can we learn from John Knox?', Banner of Truth Magazine, Issue 514 (March 2006). Excerpted from A Scottish Christian Heritage.

Resources Mentioned by David Vaughn:

D. A. Carson and J. D. Woodbridge, Letters Along the Way (Wheaton: Crossway, 1993), p. 99-100. Available free as a pdf.

A. T. Pierson, The Divine Art of Preaching, (New York: The Baker and Taylor Company, 1892), pp. 24-27.

Jay Adams, Review of John Stott's Between Two Worlds in The Journal of Pastoral Practice, Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (Vol. VIII, No. 2, 1986), p. 62.

The Works of Jonathan Edwards, (repr. Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1987), vol. 1, p. cxc.

Ron Taylor anecdote from an article in The Journal of Pastoral Practice, Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (Vol. 4, No. 4, 1980), p. 109.

John Broadus, A Treatise on the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons (New York: A. C. Armstrong and Son, 1896), p. 230.

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This week's normal Magazine Podcast episode will be delayed. In the meantime, we are publishing Iain H. Murray's address, The Benefits and Dangers of Controversy from the Ministers' Conference in Leicester in 2012.

This week, by kind permission of Dr Robert Tracy McKenzie, we read his insightful piece on the motivations of the Mayflower Pilgrims. As we mark 405 years since they made landfall in Provincetown, Massachussetts, what can we learn of spiritual benefit from their reasons for going to the 'New World'?

Original article:

https://faithandamericanhistory.wordpress.com/2017/11/12/why-the-pilgrims-really-came-to-america-2/

Books by Robert Tracy McKenzie:

The First Thanksgiving: What the Real Story Tells Us About Loving God and Learning from History

We the Fallen People: The Founders and the Future of Democracy

More on the podcast about the Pilgrims:

Episode II: The Congregation on Two Continents

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Part II of Warren Peel's preaching on Proverbs 4:23 from the 2025 Australia Conference.

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Of all of the great imperatives found in Scripture, few are more crucial than that found in Proverbs 4:23:

'Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.'

If we fail to do this, all else will be in vain. This text was taken by Warren Peel, pastor at Covenant Christian Fellowship in Galway at the recent Banner Conference in Australia (February 2025). The conference theme was 'A Lifetime in Ministry.' We will post both instalments of this message on the podcast in the next week.

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