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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 Doddridge was born in 1702, the 20th child of a London tradesman.
“So feeble the spark of life that he was first laid aside as dead” – until a servant girl noticed a movement … and the child lived. Except for sister Elizabeth, all the other children did die [...]

This is the day that … Archbishop Robert Leighton died in London, in 1684.
He was born in 1611 … the exact date being unknown. Nor are we sure of the place. His father, Alexander Leighton, was an outspoken Puritan who incurred the wrath of the infamous Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud. As a result, Laud [...]

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 … Samuel Medley was born in Hertfordshire, England, in 1738.
By the age of 14 he was apprenticed to an oilman in London, but disliking this work, at the age of 17, he became a midshipman in the Royal Navy. Despite a godly heritage, young Samuel Medley now descended into the [...]

This is the day that … Ebenezer Erskine was born in Berwickshire, Scotland, in 1680.
His father was a Church of Scotland minister. Ebenezer, and his young brother Ralph, followed suit. But their respective ministries encountered stormy days.
The republishing of a volume that had first appeared 73 years earlier – The Marrow of Modern Divinity – [...]

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 …John Henry Newman wrote his immortal hymn …
Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on;
The night is dark, and I am far from home;
Lead Thou me on;
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
the distant scene – one step enough for me.
Newman was ‘at sea, 16 [...]

This is the day that … Jeanne Marie Bourvier de la Motte Guyon died, at the age of 69, in 1717.
As a young girl, born to an aristocratic French family, she was raised in various convents. At the age of 16 she was married to a high-ranking nobleman more than twice her age. Widowed at [...]

This is the day that … Sir James Young Simpson was born, “25 miles from Edinburgh”, Scotland, in 1811.
His mother was 40 years of age at the time, and his father was the village baker. And, to establish in our minds something of the superstitions of the world into which he was born, James’ grandfather [...]