John Bunyan was an English writer and Puritan preacher. He is best remembered as the author of the Christian allegory The Pilgrim's Progress, which also became an influential literary model. In addition to The Pilgrim's Progress, Bunyan wrote nearly sixty titles, many of them expanded sermons.
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, was a British historian, poet, and Whig politician, who served as the Secretary at War between 1839 and 1841, and as the Paymaster General between 1846 and 1848.
The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come is a 1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of theological fiction in English literature and a progenitor of the narrative aspect of Christian media. It has been translated into more than 200 languages and has never been out of print. It appeared in Dutch in 1681, in German in 1703 and in Swedish in 1727. The first North American edition was issued in 1681. It has also been cited as the first novel written in English. According to literary editor Robert McCrum, "there's no book in English, apart from the Bible, to equal Bunyan's masterpiece for the range of its readership, or its influence on writers as diverse as William Hogarth, C. S. Lewis, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Charles Dickens, Louisa May Alcott, George Bernard Shaw, William Thackeray, Charlotte Bronte, Mark Twain, John Steinbeck and Enid Blyton." The words on which the hymn "To be a Pilgrim" is based come from the novel.
St Giles-without-Cripplegate is an Anglican church in the City of London, located on Fore Street within the modern Barbican complex. When built it stood without the city wall, near the Cripplegate. The church is dedicated to St Giles, patron saint of handicapped and infirm people of many different kinds. It is one of the few medieval churches left in the City of London, having survived the Great Fire of 1666.
Admiral Arthur Herbert, 1st Earl of Torrington was an English Royal Navy officer, peer and politician. Dismissed by King James II of England in 1688 for refusing to vote to repeal the Test Act, which prevented Roman Catholics from holding public office, he brought the Invitation to William to William of Orange at The Hague, disguised as a simple sailor. As a reward he was made commander of William's invasion fleet which landed at Torbay in Devon on 5 November 1688, which initiated the Glorious Revolution.
As a general term in theological use, assurance refers to a believer's confidence in God, God's response to prayer, and the hope of eternal salvation. In Protestant Christian doctrine, the term "assurance", also known as the Witness of the Spirit, affirms that the inner witness of the Holy Spirit allows the Christian disciple to know that they are justified. Based on the writings of St. Augustine of Hippo, assurance was historically an important doctrine in Lutheranism and Calvinism, and remains a distinguishing doctrine of Methodism and Quakerism, although there are differences among these Christian traditions. Hymns that celebrate the witness of the Holy Spirit, such as Fanny Crosby's "Blessed Assurance", are sung in Christian liturgies to celebrate the belief in assurance.
William Craven, 1st Earl of Craven, PC was an English nobleman and soldier.
Monergism is the view within Christian theology which holds that God works through the Holy Spirit to bring about the salvation of an individual through spiritual regeneration, regardless of the individual's cooperation. It is most often associated with Lutheranism, as well as with the Reformed tradition and its doctrine of irresistible grace, and particularly with historical doctrinal differences between Calvinism and Arminianism. This position supposedly contrasts with what is pejoratively called Arminian synergism, the belief that God and individuals cooperate to bring individuals salvation.
El Shaddai or just Shaddai is one of the names of the God of Israel. El Shaddai is conventionally translated into English as God Almighty.
The Professor's Commencement is a short story by Willa Cather. It was first published in New England Magazine in June 1902
William Kiffin (1616–1701), sometimes spelled William Kiffen, was a seventeenth-century English Baptist minister. He was also a successful merchant in the woollen trade.
William Stewart, 1st Viscount Mountjoy (1653–1692), was an Anglo-Irish soldier.
In Christianity, heaven is traditionally the location of the throne of God and the angels of God, and in most forms of Christianity it is the abode of the righteous dead in the afterlife. In some Christian denominations it is understood as a temporary stage before the resurrection of the dead and the saints' return to the New Earth.
Sir Robert Parkhurst was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1625 and 1651. He supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War.
Sir William Pritchard or Prichard (1632?–1705) was an English merchant, slave trader and politician, Lord Mayor of London in 1682.
Critical and Historical Essays: Contributed to the Edinburgh Review (1843) is a collection of articles by Thomas Babington Macaulay, later Lord Macaulay. They have been acclaimed for their readability, but criticized for their inflexible attachment to the attitudes of the Whig school of history.
"London streets are paved with gold" is a saying that came from the 19th century story Dick Whittington and His Cat, loosely based on the 14th century Lord Mayor of London, Richard Whittington. The saying, which expresses the idea of a "land of opportunity", is partly ironic, since Dick Whittington found when he went to London that the streets were in fact grimy and poverty stricken. The second irony was that with persistence, belief, and luck, Whittington was able to become successful.
Aulay Macaulay (1758–1819) was a Scottish writer and clergyman of the Church of England.
Babington is the name of an Anglo-Irish and English gentry family. The Anglo-Irish branch of the family is still extant today.
The Ministry of the Chits was the government of the Kingdom of England from November 1679 to 1688. The administration was led by three young ministers, collectively known as the chits: Laurence Hyde, Sidney Godolphin and the Earl of Sunderland.
