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This is the day that … Edward Caswell was born in Hampshire, England, in 1814.
The son of an Anglican vicar, young Edward graduated from Oxford in 1836, and three years later became a clergyman.
But during his first ministerial charge he was caught up in the Oxford Movement, which resulted in his seceding to the Church [...]

This is the day that … Thomas Kelly was born in Ireland, in 1769.
After graduating from Dublin University he set his mind to practise law. But an evangelical conversion took place, and from henceforth his steps were directed toward the Christian ministry.
Ordained by the Church of Ireland in 1792 his strong evangelical preaching soon aroused [...]

This is the day that … Henry VIII was excommunicated by the Pope of Rome. It was 1533.
He was 42 years of age, had sat upon the throne of England since 1509 … and (in 1521) had been awarded the title “Defender of the Faith” - by Pope Leo X!
Why? Because Henry had taken up [...]

This is the day that … John Calvin was born in 1509, in Noyon, France.
He was to become the outstanding theologian of the Protestant Reformation … although not all Protestants would agree with some of his doctrines. But it must be confessed that many a giant of Christian history acknowledges the impact of Calvinism upon [...]

This is the day that …William Cameron Townsend was born into a Presbyterian family in California, in 1896.
In 1917, after joining the Student Volunteer Movement in his teens, he was selling Spanish Bibles in Guatemala. But 2000 Cakchiquel Indians had no use for the Bible in Spanish, a language they could not understand. He was [...]

This is the day that … Thomas John Barnardo was born in Dublin, Ireland, in the year 1845 … “and the doctor doubted whether or not the new baby would live”.
The little one survived only to become “desperately ill with diphtheria at the age of two. Doctors failed to detect a heartbeat … Funeral arrangements [...]

This is the day that … Allen Francis Gardiner was born in 1794, in Berkshire, England.
After a reckless decade, from age 15 to 25, during which he forsook the Christian heritage his parents had given him, and during which time he had become an English naval officer, Gardiner was confronted by the claims of Christ, [...]

This is the day that …Philip Henry died in 1696.
During his 65 years of earthly pilgrimage he was an ordained Church of England clergyman who was ejected from his church (as were some 2000 other clergy), for refusing to obey the king’s “Act of Uniformity” (24 August, 1662).
Two months later his son Matthew was born, [...]

This is the day that … Increase Mather was born in 1639, in Massachusetts.
He was to become a leading light in colonial America – a Puritan of the Puritans, author of 130 books and pamphlets, and president of Harvard University (1681-1701). He is arguably one of just a handful of men who stand out as [...]

This is the day that … Adam Clarke preached his first sermon.
He was about 21 years of age at the time – the date of his birth is uncertain – but this young Irishman had come to faith in Christ through the ministry of some itinerant Methodist preachers.
In 1778 (when he was perhaps 18 years [...]