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King Charles II and the British passed the Conventicle Act of 1664, making it illegal to hold church meetings of over five people. It prohibited "... more than five persons in addition to members of the family, for any religious purpose not according to the rules of the Church of England." The word "conventicle" is derived from the word "convenant" and referred to gatherings of church members according to Jesus' promise in Matthew 18:20, "Where two or three are met together in my name." The English Book of Canon Law, Article 11, stated: "All conventicles and secret meetings ... have...

John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" - "The monster was hideous to behold...scales...wings like a dragon, feet like a bear...out of his belly came fire & smoke" What would it be like to be imprisoned for 12 years just for preaching the Gospel without a license from the government? This was the fate of John Bunyan, author of the world renown book Pilgrim's Progress. John Bunyan was born in Bedford, England, in 1628, nearly a century before the Europe's Age of Enlightenment. He worked as a poor, unskilled tinker by trade. In 1644, at the age of 16, Bunyan joined the Puritan...

By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him...

"Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God;" — John 1:13. The words have a dependence on what goes before, and therefore I must direct you to them for the right understanding of it. You have it thus, —"He came to his own, but his own received him not; but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them which believe on his name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the...

A woman who killed her lover with an axe told a jury yesterday she believed she had done "the right thing".Janet Charlton, 36, said there was no other way of saving either herself or her four-year-old daughter Amy from the violence of Danny O'Brien."I thought he was an animal," Charlton told Leeds Crown Court. "He was mad. He would have done absolutely anything. I believe he was mentally unstable."Charlton, who was giving evidence for the sixth day, said: "I have to live with this for the rest of my life. I know that the only reason I can is because...