In a day in which Christian celebritism is rampant, and almost all biographies are written about the big names of the past, it is encouraging to read about a few “normal” Christians who served the Lord as faithfully as those we emulate today. Michael Haykin has chosen in this little volume to highlight the lives of ten such individuals who ministered in England between the period of the “Great Ejection” of 1662 and the Great Awakening of the 1730s. All of these short biographies are of people (eight men and two women) who were Calvinistic Baptists. Each served faithfully for many years, had an impact on their time, but have been largely forgotten by church history. An outstanding characteristic of the pastors showcased was that rather than seek personal fame they saw themselves as belonging to their church family, and it was to the local assembly (as well as the Lord) that they dedicated their lives (pp 17, 41).
A Cloud of Witnesses, Calvinistic Baptists in the 18th Century by Michael Haykin (Darlington, UK: Evangelical Times, 2006) 96 pp., paper
Reviewed by Gary E. Gilley, Southern View Chapel